‘The Naked Gun’ Reboot Set With Liam Neeson and ‘Lonely Island’ Member

Liam Neeson is adding comedy to his particular set of skills. The Taken star is reportedly in talks with Paramount to star in a remake of The Naked Gun, co-produced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers director Akiva Schaffer, who is also a member of the Lonely Island comedy team, is directing.

Neeson himself revealed that Paramount was interested in making a Naked Gun movie with him back in February. “I’ve been approached by Seth McFarlane and Paramount Studios to maybe resurrect the Naked Gun films,” he told People (The TV Show). “It’ll either finish my career or bring it in another direction. I honestly don’t know.”

On Thursday, Deadline confirmed the project is in motion. Schaffer is working on the script with his Chip ‘n Dale co-writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. MacFarlane is producing with Erica Huggins under their Fuzzy Door banner. The exact plot details for the new movie are unknown and Paramount has not set a release date. Paramount previously tried to revive the franchise with The Office star Ed Helms in the lead role, but that version never got off the ground.

The Naked Gun franchise has its roots in television. David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, the same team behind Airplane!, created Police Squad! in 1982. The police procedural parody series introduced Leslie Nielsen’s character, Det. Franklin “Frank” Debin, a well-meaning detective who was never good at his job.

Although Police Squad! was canceled after six episodes, Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker revived Debin for the 1988 movie The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!. The movie was a huge hit, prompting Paramount to produce a sequel, The Naked Gun 2 1⁄2: The Smell of Fear, in 1991. A third film, Naked Gun 33 1⁄3: The Final Insult, was released in 1994. After Nielsen’s death in 2010, Paramount began looking to revive the franchise with a new take on Debin.

Neeson has been acting in movies and television since the late 1970s, but it was not until 1993 that he became an international star thanks to Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. The film earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination. After focusing mostly on dramas, Neeson reinvented his career with Taken in 2008. Since then, he has starred in countless action movies, including Blacklight and Memory, both released this year. He previously worked with MacFarlane by making a cameo appearance in Ted 2 in 2015.