O’Shea Jackson Jr. has made his position on Last Friday clear: he would very much like an update. Responding on X on October 27 after Lawrence Lamont was named director of the next Friday movie, Jackson Jr. said he had not received calls or emails from his agent about the project. Then he delivered the punchline: “I will call mom.”
It is a particularly neat joke because the actor is the oldest son of Ice Cube and Kimberly Woodruff—and because Ice Cube is not merely attached to the proposed film. California’s production-tax-credit announcement identified him as the star, writer and producer of New Line Cinema’s Last Friday. In other words, Jackson Jr.’s gag playfully turns a routine professional unknown into a family matter.
The post should not be treated as casting confirmation. It says the opposite: Jackson Jr. had not been contacted, at least as of his October 27 response. No role for him has been announced in the information currently available. Still, the joke naturally gets at one of the larger questions around a long-delayed follow-up: who will be in it, and how closely will it connect to the people and comic chemistry that made the earlier films memorable?
For additional coverage of the exchange, see this report on Jackson Jr.’s casting-update joke.
For more context, explore Skyblivion Removes Former Volunteer’s Work as Legal Threats Put New Pressure on the Oblivion Conversion Mod.
What has actually been established about Last Friday
There are several concrete signs that the project has moved beyond wishful sequel talk. Lamont has been named as director. Ice Cube said during a July 17 appearance with Mike Epps in Long Beach that the Last Friday script had been submitted. And on October 7, the California Film Commission listed the film among 35 productions selected for production tax credits.
A production tax credit is a state incentive intended to encourage film and television work in a particular location. It is not the same thing as a release date, a completed cast list, or proof that cameras are already rolling. It does, however, show a project has reached a meaningful point in planning: the production was included in a state program and positioned as a Southern California shoot.
Ice Cube said the production expects to employ more than 180 local cast and crew members. He also connected the decision to film in Southern California with the original movie’s South Los Angeles roots. That detail matters beyond simple geography. Location can shape the texture of a comedy—its streets, rhythms, supporting players and sense of community—especially for a series whose identity is closely tied to a specific setting.
The available information also credits Ice Cube in the central creative roles of star, writer and producer. That continuity offers a clearer indication of the new film’s connection to the franchise than any speculative casting conversation does. The exact story, character lineup and timetable remain unannounced in the supplied details.
A fourth film after a long break
Last Friday is described as the fourth feature in the series, which began with Friday in 1995. Ice Cube created the original with DJ Pooh, and F. Gary Gray directed it. The first film paired Cube with Chris Tucker as Smokey and featured John Witherspoon as the father of Cube’s character.
The franchise subsequently brought in performers including Mike Epps, Bernie Mac and Faizon Love. Its latest released entry, Friday After Next, arrived in 2002. That leaves a 24-year gap between that film and the current wave of sequel news.
That span creates both opportunity and constraint. On the opportunity side, a new installment has room to acknowledge how much has changed since the last one while returning to a well-known comedy world. On the constraint side, the time between entries makes assumptions especially risky. A franchise name may invite audiences to anticipate favorite characters, but anticipation is not an announcement. The material available confirms only the people and roles specifically identified: Ice Cube’s creative involvement, Lamont’s directing job, and Jackson Jr.’s public statement that he had not received a call.
It also makes the wording of Jackson Jr.’s post more interesting than a standard social-media aside. He is not an outsider trying to get noticed by a property with which he has no connection. He has already portrayed his father in the 2015 N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton. That performance gives the joke an additional layer: he has played Ice Cube on screen before, but that prior work does not establish a part in this film.
Why the “call mom” line landed
At its simplest, Jackson Jr.’s post follows an old comic premise: when formal channels fail, call a parent. The humor comes from the contrast between the ordinary language of representation—agents, emails and calls—and the extraordinary reality that the potential employer is his father. Naming his mother as the hypothetical next contact makes the line more specific and more playful than simply saying he would ask Ice Cube directly.
It is also restrained. Jackson Jr. did not claim he was being considered, did not reveal plot information, and did not announce involvement. He used the absence of news as the joke. For readers tracking sequel developments, that distinction is practical: viral casting chatter can make a humorous post feel like a production update when it is not one.
Jackson Jr. has built a screen résumé beyond playing his father. His credits include Just Mercy, Cocaine Bear and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and he appeared opposite Gerard Butler in the Den of Thieves films. Those credits explain why fans may view him as a plausible participant in a major comedy sequel, but plausibility remains separate from a confirmed deal or announced character.
Lawrence Lamont’s appointment is a meaningful creative clue
While casting has not been detailed, the directing choice provides a little more to discuss. Lamont directed Keke Palmer and SZA in One Of Them Days, a comedy about two friends trying to hold on to their home after their rent money disappears. His other work includes music videos for Big Sean and J. Cole, as well as work on Issa Rae’s Rap Sh!t.
Those credits do not reveal what Last Friday will be about or how it will be structured. They do show that Lamont comes to the project with comedy and music-video experience, plus television work. For a franchise rooted in performer chemistry and a recognizable local sensibility, the director is a consequential hire: a director sets the on-set approach, manages performances and translates a script into the timing, pace and visual point of view audiences ultimately see.
That does not mean Lamont is being asked to replicate anyone else’s work. The first Friday had F. Gary Gray behind the camera, and a new film arriving decades later has its own circumstances. The available facts instead point to a combination of continuity and change: Ice Cube remains at the project’s creative center, while Lamont supplies a new directing voice.
The sensible reading of the sequel news
The strongest take-away is that Last Friday has identifiable momentum. A director has been named, the script was said to have been submitted, the film has state tax-credit support, and the production is planned for Southern California with more than 180 local cast and crew jobs anticipated.
Just as important is what remains unresolved in public. There is no supplied release date, no stated start date for filming, no plot summary and no full cast list. There is also no confirmation that O’Shea Jackson Jr. is in the movie. His “call mom” remark is funny precisely because it acknowledges that gap rather than filling it with pretend certainty.
For now, the sequel’s confirmed through-line is Ice Cube’s involvement and its intended return to Southern California. Whether Jackson Jr.’s family-networking punchline eventually becomes an actual casting update is still an open question.
