Carnahan, the director of films like "The A-Team", "Narc" and "The Grey", has tweeted a photo believed to be a mocked-up still from the planned movie treatment and the caption,
"...Who is this man? ...And how bad is he? #BadBoys3," he wrote.
The news comes just days after Will Smith made it clear he and Martin Lawrence are keen to return to the big screen as their cocky, larger-than-life police officer characters, Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett.
"I haven't seen him for about two years. We just looked at each other. We hugged. In that moment, we knew we were making another Bad Boys. We're definitely doing another one.