The Expendables franchise lives on in The Expendables 4 a.k.a. EXPEND4BLES, a film that returns to the roots of the star-studded action saga by embracing a hard R rating and featuring the series’ signature bombastic action. EXPEND4BLES posters have highlighted the film’s “New Blood”, and for good reason; a number of new actors have joined the cast including Megan Fox, 50 Cent, and martial arts legend Tony Jaa. Of course, franchise favorites return as well, with Jason Statham giving another fantastic action-filled performance.

Although this film has a new director and new writers, The Expendables veterans were present behind the scenes as well. Producers Les Weldon and Kevin King Templeton have shepherded the franchise since it began in 2010, and once again lend their expertise to the proceedings. Both men have worked on thrilling action films outside The Expendables franchise as well, with titles like Creed, Rambo: Last Blood, and Angel Has Fallen under their collective belt.

Related: The Expendables 4's Cast & Character Guide

Kevin King Templeton and Les Weldon spoke with Screen Rant to discuss returning to franchise roots, new additions, and doing it for the fans. Note: This interview was conducted during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and the movie covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in both unions.

Kevin King Templeton & Les Weldon On The Expendables 4

Screen Rant: You’re both producers on this, obviously. I don't know if I've had the chance to speak with multiple producers at once before; What’s the collaboration between producers on a film like this? Are you each tackling different areas of the project?

Kevin King Templeton: Every movie I’ve done… We're in the same office. Les is my left hand, I’m his right hand. We’re like brothers, we do everything together, and that’s the only way you can do it with this movie. This is a massive film and there are so many moving parts, so if your partner is not in sync with you, then you’re lost.

Les Weldon: [There are] so many personalities, too, that we both sometimes have to deal with. Not in a bad way, but [the stars are] these presences. At least for us, it makes the movie better, and it allows us to handle it better as a team.

Kevin King Templeton: There are so many sleepless nights. You have to do it together.

The draw of this franchise has always been getting to see these mega action stars who have such storied resumes come together, and even in the marketing for this one, there's been such a focus on the new faces and the new blood. Did that feel like a risk at all when putting this together?

Kevin King Templeton: Each movie has different characters in there. In order to evolve, you can't reinvent the wheel, but you have to freshen it up. You have to put new characters in there, but these characters have to fit, and they have to be right. It was kind of an extensive casting process, but I'm hoping we got the right balance. It was more of a Christmas-centric movie, [and] we needed a foil for Jason, so Megan was cast in it. We thought the chemistry was perfect between the two of them, which is why we cast her. 50 (Cent) added some much-needed blood to the back team. You don't reinvent the wheel, but you definitely polish the tires and give it a new coat.

Les Weldon: It helps bring out new dimensions to some of our core group as well. The whole interaction there with 50 and Dolph gives it a little bit of an urgency there, with everything that's going on. Then, Iko and Tony really helped balance this out on more of a global scale. Those guys are legends, and they bring their own kind of fighting and flavor to this whole franchise that wasn't there before. The whole thing is freshened up by all of that. Then, the setting itself is sort of a different milieu from all the other Expendables films while still keeping that core and going back to that R-rated action, which the audience really wants. We didn't do in the last film, but [with] this one, I think everybody's going to be going to be going, “Great. I love this kick-ass R action, hard R.”

You mentioned it was a long casting process. Was there one of the new faces that was maybe the toughest to get, or someone who maybe felt like the biggest risk as they were coming into this?

Kevin King Templeton: No. When I say tough, it wasn't tough trying to get them; it was finding the balance that was tough. There was no hard negotiation with any of the new characters. We asked, and they came on board, but to make that offer, we had to make sure it was right. A lot of thought went into every one of the new people that's in this.

Whenever you add new characters to an existing franchise, you’ve got to be careful. If you make the wrong move and that link in the chain is the weakest, then the chain comes off. So when I say it was a long casting process, it was long with us just thinking about whom to go to. Once we decided who to go to it was easy. I think we got it right; hopefully, you guys think so too.

You have a new director this time around, and new writers as well. You two have both been around, as has Jason. How involved were you in making sure that this stayed true to the tone of the franchise overall?

Kevin King Templeton: We’re both very involved in the development portion of it. Jason was very involved. Sly was, in the development of the script. The movies are—we’re not superheroes. We're not Marvel; no one throws a cape on and flies through the air. It’s old-fashioned action, and that was the main thing, when we were developing, everyone agreed that we needed to stick to. That’s what started it. That's the bread and butter of this franchise. That's the lifeblood of it, so we knew what we were getting into. It wasn't a question of, “We have to stay true to it.” We always had that philosophy for this. It never changed, and I don't think it will.

Les Weldon: As producers, though, we're here to help guide the whole project and make sure certain things were done, like the action [and] the R rating. [We’re thinking about things like,] “What is the story here? Who is up front and center?” There are things that we need to help facilitate. Even if we're not physically writing the script itself, we have to have that input and figure out, “What is important for this franchise and for this franchise to move forward?” There are sometimes a lot of cooks in the kitchen and you need a couple of guys like us to go, “Well, let's steer this way.”

Kevin King Templeton: Just to make the villains more formidable—that's important. [You have to] make the fighting believable, and you need the right cast for that. That’s the main thing: just making sure there's clarity, and making sure that you stay true to how the franchise was created.

I was shocked to find out this franchise has been around for 13 years; it just doesn't feel like that at all. Is there something that you think is the key to making sure that it doesn't slow down? Is that continuing to bring in more people? Do you have ideas for future installments?

Kevin King Templeton: Yeah, we spoke about this. I think the only thing you can think about what's in front of you now; you can't think too far ahead. So we’ve got Expendables 4; it's fan driven. If it's received well, and the fans like it, sure, there'll be another one. You can't put the cart before the horse.

Les Weldon: It can’t be, “Oh, Les and Kevin want to make another Expendables.” It doesn't work that way. This is for the fans, and we have to do it right for the fans. Then, we can say, “Okay, now maybe we can think about it.”

Kevin King Templeton: But in a perfect world, yeah, we'd love to do another one. We'd love to go on, but you can't think like that. You’ve just got to do what's in hand.

About The Expendables 4

A new generation of stars join the world’s top action stars for an adrenaline-fueled adventure in Expend4bles. Reuniting as the team of elite mercenaries, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, and Sylvester Stallone are joined for the first time by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Jacob Scipio, Levy Tran, and Andy Garcia. Armed with every weapon they can get their hands on and the skills to use them, The Expendables are the world’s last line of defense and the team that gets called when all other options are off the table. But new team members with new styles and tactics are going to give “new blood” a whole new meaning.

Check out our other The Expendables 4 interviews here:

• Director Scott Waugh
• Stunt Coordinator Alan Ng

Source: Screen Rant Plus