In the wake of the controversies surrounding his co-star in the Bad Boys franchise, Martin Lawrence has sounded out a positive note regarding the future of the franchise’s next installment, Bad Boys 4. After two previous outings as Miami Police detectives Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey, Lawrence and co-star Will Smith teamed up in 2020 for the third installment of the action-comedy franchise.

Following the success of Bad Boys For Life, Sony Pictures began planning for another sequel, Bad Boys 4. However, the future of the film was called into question in the weeks and months following the Smith-Chris Rock incident at the Oscars; however, Lawrence is sounding positive about the future. Speaking to Ebony, the actor discussed his relationship with Smith and the chances of the film in the aftermath of the slapping incident, to that he responded “We got one more at least.” If Lawrence is right and Bad Boys 4 does happen, he will be reprising the more family-oriented detective Burnett with Smith returning as the daring Lowrey.

In March at the Oscars, Smith made headlines when he slapped comedian and host, Rock, on stage over a joke made by the latter about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Despite winning an Oscar for Best Actor moments later for his performance on King Richard, Smith had to resign from the Academy and accept a decade’s ban as well. The actor has since apologized to Rock but has seen, in the aftermath of the incident, projects tied to his name either shelved or halted indefinitely, thus the speculation about the Bad Boys sequel.

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Image via Warner Bros

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As speculation mounted, Sony Chairman Tom Rothman confirmed in May that the sequel is still in the works at the studio and with Lawrence’s comments there seems to be hope for fans of the franchise. Lawrence, in the same interview, went on to recount how being part of the Bad Boys made him feel and what it meant. The comedian also revealed what he and Smith to proved themselves when the franchise began in 1995. Here is his statement in full:

“It was big. For us to come together and prove that we can deliver, and we can pull people into the box office—that two Black stars, two sitcom stars, could make money at the box office [was huge]. I didn’t go to college, so I felt TV was my college years. I felt with movies, I had graduated; it was just different.”

Bad Boys For Life was hit; despite delays on its way to release, it eventually grossed $426 million at the box office as it beat the earnings of its predecessors while bringing the franchise’s total to $840 million worldwide.