Liam Neeson stars as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. in The Naked Gun.
Thirty years after the last film in The Naked Gun crime-spoof comedy franchise, we’re finally getting a new installment, The Naked Gun, described as a “legacy sequel.” And it’s Liam Neeson stepping into Leslie Nielsen’s fumbling shoes, playing that character’s son. Judging by the official trailer, Neeson is up to the task, showcasing his screwball comedy chops.
(Some spoilers for the first three films in the franchise below.)
The original Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! debuted in 1988, with Leslie Nielsen starring as Detective Frank Drebin, trying to foil an assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the US. It proved successful enough to launch two sequels. Naked Gun 2-1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) found Drebin battling an evil plan to kidnap a prominent nuclear scientist. Naked Gun 33-1/3: The Final Insult (1994) found Drebin coming out of retirement and going undercover to take down a crime syndicate planning to blow up the Academy Awards.
The franchise rather lost steam after that, but by 2013, Paramount was planning a reboot starring Ed Helms as “Frank Drebin, no relation.” David Zucker, who produced the prior Naked Gun films and directed the first two, declined to be involved, feeling it could only be “inferior” to his originals. He was briefly involved in the 2017 rewrites, featuring Frank’s son as a secret agent rather than a policeman. That film never transpired either. The project was revived again in 2021 by Seth MacFarlane (without Zucker’s involvement), and Neeson was cast as Frank Drebin Jr.—a police lieutenant in this incarnation.
In addition to Neeson, the film stars Paul Walter Hauser as Captain Ed Hocken, Jr.—Hauser will also appear as Mole Man in the forthcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps—and Pamela Anderson as a sultry femme fatale named Beth. The cast also includes Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes, and Eddy Yu.
