Development After
The Expendables 3 (2014) underperformed at the box office, the future of the series was left in doubt and production stalled over several years. By November 2014, it was announced the project was being developed with intent to retain its R-rating like the first two films. In December 2016,
Sylvester Stallone announced the fourth installment would be the final film in the series, while a scheduled tentative release date was set for 2018. By March 2017, Stallone had left the project and the franchise, due to creative differences over the script and direction for continuing the franchise. In January 2018, after vocal support from other cast members (including
Arnold Schwarzenegger), Stallone announced his return to the series with a post to his social media platforms; confirming new developments on the fourth movie. By August 2020, Vértice Cine announced their involvement as a production studio on the movie, alongside
Lionsgate and
Millennium Films. They also revealed
Patrick Hughes was going to return to the series as director. In November 2020, the president of Millennium Media, Jeffrey Greenstein, stated the studio was continuing to work on
The Expendables 4 after various delays within the industry worldwide due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2021,
The Hollywood Reporter reported
Scott Waugh would be directing the film, replacing Hughes, as well as Statham serving as a producer of the film, According to
Dolph Lundgren, the film had a budget of $100 million. Production was tentatively scheduled to begin by April 2019, though it wasn't until July of that year Stallone announced he was continuing to work on the script for the project. The script was completed later that year, though negotiations with producers were ongoing. In August 2021, it was announced
Spenser Cohen wrote the most recent draft of the script with
Max Adams, from a story by Cohen. By April of the same year, Sylvester Stallone revealed his first choice for the villain was
Jack Nicholson, while mentioning his interest in convincing
Clint Eastwood to join the production. According to
Jackie Chan, he was approached to star in the film by Stallone but was unsure about having limited screen time in an ensemble film, which is why he had turned down roles in the previous two entries.
Dwayne Johnson publicly expressed interest to play a villainous character in a new installment during a 2014 Q&A and reiterated his interest to join the series in 2022. In May 2015,
Hulk Hogan claimed he was in talks with Stallone to play the film's main villain. Despite discontent with how his character was handled in
The Expendables 3, Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed he was interested in returning to the series if he liked the script. However; on May 29, 2023, Schwarzenegger confirmed he would not be returning to the franchise, citing a general uninterest. While he was not included in the fourth movie,
Kellan Lutz proclaimed interest to return in a fifth installment in an
Instagram post. On the other hand,
Terry Crews, who had starred in all previous films, refused to appear in any new entries after claiming he was sexually assaulted by Stallone's agent, Adam Venit, alleging he was pressured by producer Avi Lerner to drop the case if he wanted to stay in the series. However, none of the actors mentioned above were subsequently cast, and the cast was announced to include returning stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham,
Randy Couture, and Dolph Lundgren, while new cast members were revealed to be
Eddie Hall,
Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson,
Megan Fox,
Tony Jaa,
Andy García, Sheila Shah,
Jacob Scipio and
Levy Tran, Filming officially commenced on September 29, 2021. In October 2021, Stallone announced on social media he had finished filming his scenes for the movie. In November 2021, production was shot in
Greece, including the city of
Thessaloniki. Members of the
Greek Armed Forces were used as
extras and alleged they were not compensated for their month-long official deployment, despite working overtime. On December 3, 2021, Tony Jaa confirmed filming had wrapped.
Post-production The film title had been retitled
Expend4bles by June 2023, a name that was widely ridiculed by commentators. When asked why they chose this title, producer Les Weldon stated it had always been the filmmakers' desire while retaining
The Expendables brand identity. == Music ==