Billboard Women in Music 2025
Although it’s only Hump Day, Ice Cube is getting audiences ready for the weekend as he returns to the role that started it all.
The Grammy winner has inked a deal with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema to write and reprise his role as Craig Jones in Last Friday, the fourth entry in his comedy Friday (1995), Next Friday (2000) and Friday After Next (2002).
New Line CCO Richard Brener revealed the news in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter after he “closed a deal” with the star, who previously teased that the sequel had “finally got some traction” in June 2024.
“They have new leadership, my man Mike DeLuca, who used to be at New Line when I first started, when I first did the first Friday and Players Club and All About the Benjamins. Mike DeLuca was there,” he explained at the time.
“So, now he’s running Warner Bros,” added Ice Cube. “And him and my man Michael Gruber was like, ‘Yo, what the fuck is going on with Friday? Man, let’s get this shit back online.’”
Ice Cube and Chris Tucker in ‘Friday’ (1995)
Ice Cube co-wrote the first Friday (1995) with DJ Pooh, starring in the comedy as 22-year-old slacker Craig Jones, who faces troubles in South Central Los Angeles when he and his best friend Smokey (Chris Tucker) become indebted to a local drug dealer.
The actor reprised his role for the sequels Next Friday (2000) and Friday After Next (2002). He was in talks with New Line for a fourth entry as far back as 2011, but Ice Cube called out the Warner Bros.-owned studio for dragging their feet on the sequel in 2022.
“You know, I was a little hot because they had took so long,” he said in June. “John Witherspoon passed away, [Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister Jr.] passed away, [Anthony ‘AJ’ Johnson] passed away. I’m like, ‘Man, we keep losing people, and y’all keep dicking around, not doing the movie the way it needed to be done.’
“They wanna do it, but the key is, it’s got to be done right or we shouldn’t fuck with it. So, they finally came to their senses, so hopefully we can get in the process of getting that movie made,” said Ice Cube.
