Cube says the production company took too long to greenlight the project before John Witherspoon's passing.

Over a week ago, a fan on Twitter asked Ice Cube about the status of the final chapter in the Friday series. Cube answered candidly, saying the project was going back to the drawing board. He added that New Line Cinema was slow to greenlight the Last Friday script, which heavily featured John Witherspoon's character, Willie Jones. Witherspoon died of a heart attack in his Los Angeles home on October 29.

A TMZ reporter recently asked Cube if he'd consider using CGI to reprise Witherspoon's role. Cube immediately dismissed the idea, reiterating that any plans for a sequel were up to New Line.

Since as early as 2016, Cube has expressed a desire to close the series out. However, he's maintained all along that the process is mostly in the hands of New Line Cinema. The last installment, Friday After Next, hit theaters nearly 18 years ago.

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In the meantime, Cube has kept himself busy with other projects, such as the burgeoning Big 3 basketball league.

Cube also serves as executive producer of VH1's game show "Hip Hop Squares." In late 2018, multiple outlets reported he would executive produce a reboot of MTV's "Celebrity Deathmatch." The network attempted to reboot the series in 2015 when MTV2 announced their plans to bring the show back. However, the main network didn't pick up the pilot. The current status of the reboot remains unknown.

H/T: HipHopDX