Director Francis Ford Coppola gives a blunt response when asked about prospects for The Godfather Part 4 to happen. Released in 1972, Coppola’s The Godfather survived massive production challenges to become one of the first Hollywood blockbusters, grossing $250-$291 million and garnering 11 Oscar nominations. Just two years later, director Coppola followed up that huge success with The Godfather Part II, which is itself considered a classic. Not widely considered a classic is 1990’s The Godfather Part III, the culmination of the Corleone Family saga. But Coppola did get a later chance to correct the errors of the third Godfather, releasing a final cut laborious titled The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.

Despite The Godfather Coda putting a seeming final capper on the Corleone story, Coppola continues to be asked about the chances for the series to continue with The Godfather Part IV. Queried again recently about this during an Instagram exchange, Coppola gave a blunt response, saying “In my mind there is only 1 film known as The Godfather (Parts I and II) and an epilogue or ‘coda’ The Death of Michael Corleone.”

Screencap of an Instagram stories frame with the question Would you be interested in making Godfather part 4 and the answer In my mind there is only one film known as The Godfather Parts One and Two and an epilogue or coda The Death of Michael Corleone

The Godfather Part IV Could Still Happen Without Coppola

Blended image of Michael Corleone sitting in Part II while Vito is talking to someone in Godfather

Coppola himself did once consider continuing the Godfather saga after the death of Michael Corleone, going to work with Mario Puzo on a fourth movie that would have told parallel narratives, a present-day story concerning Andy Garcia’s Vincent Corleone and a flashback focused on Vito and Sonny Corleone. Obviously the movie never came to be, and now in Coppola’s mind, The Godfather saga is complete as it stands.

Coppola’s pronouncement that the Godfather story is complete (at least in his own mind) would seem to shut down any further speculation about The Godfather Part IV still becoming a reality. But of course, in a movie world dominated by a franchise filmmaking mentality, any IP perceived as having worth will remain perpetually open to new avenues of exploitation. The Godfather was indeed recently exploited by Paramount via the Paramount+ series The Offer, a ten-episode depiction of the infamously problem-plagued making of Coppola’s legendary film.

Coppola himself is still around as of now to say that The Godfather Part 4 won’t happen, but that won’t be the case forever, and when he’s gone, others will make the call on how The Godfather is handled as a piece of IP. In the future, there well could be a fourth movie in the series, that explores what happened to the Corleones after the death of Michael. There could also be a Godfather prequel, or a spinoff focused on a secondary character, or a flat-out reboot. That is simply how Hollywood works, and as long as that remains the case, nothing will be off the table. Whether it would truly be wise to resurrect The Godfather without Coppola directing is another question altogether.

Source: Francis Ford Coppola/Instagram