The Die Hard prequel movie is no longer happening

Bruce Willis in Die Hard — (Image credit: 20th Century Fox)

Rumors of a Die Hard prequel have been doing the rounds for years. Back in 2015, Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman was attached to helm the pic which Bruce Willis dubbed at the time "a really cool idea." At that point the project lifted its title, Die Hard: Year One, from the Boom! Comics series it planned to adapt, later changing it entirely to just McClane.

Whatever you wanna call it – the Die Hard prequel is officially dead.

Touted as a soft reboot for the franchise, the sixth entry into the series planned to involve a young John McClane. Willis would have returned to reprise his role as an older version of the character, bookending the movie.

While it might have originated elsewhere, it sounds like the plans announced back in 2015 were still on the table: an earlier time period where we meet a young McClane and a later one where we catch up with Willis' more grizzled take on the action hero. Wiseman was still attached to direct alongside Willis in a substantial role.

He adds: "What was interesting about our idea was it allowed you the ability to meet the young John McClane and use Bruce. So it was really interesting in that way. So you sort of got to see both versions of him. A bit [like The Godfather Part 2]."

While there's no telling when we might see a Die Hard movie on the big screen, plenty of top-notch thrills await on the small screen – check out our picks of the best action movies on Netflix to stream right now.

Gem Seddon is a freelance writer working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.