With Paramount Pictures recently giving it a release date, here’s everything we know about Liam Neeson’s Naked Gun reboot.
After years of rumors and speculation, Liam Neeson’s Naked Gun reboot looks like it is finally heading into production. Set to be directed by The Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer, and written by Dan Gregor and Doug Man, fans expect a lot from this reboot. While many have tried (and failed) to update the franchise, and it’s hard to imagine anyone stepping into Leslie Nielsen’s iconic shoes at Lt. Frank Drebin, it’s pretty interesting that the team pairing on this is the same one that teamed on Disney’s much better than expected reboot of Chip n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers. All involved are really funny, so if anyone could make this work, it’s them. With a release date tentatively set for July 18th, 2025, here’s everything we know about the Naked Gun reboot.
Liam Neeson will be the star.
While some may wonder why Liam Neeson, a man not especially known for comedy is being cast as Frank Drebin, fans of film history will immediately understand why it’s a brilliant idea. While Leslie Nielsen is remembered now as one of the greatest comedy stars of all time, before he signed on to Airplane, he was best known as a deadpan character actor, without a single funny bone in his body. For proof, watch his sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet, or The Poseidon Adventure. His casting was against type, and even when he headlined the TV show that spawned The Naked Gun, Police Squad, he was still showing up in serious roles, such as in Creepshow. It was the first Naked Gun that changed his career. This could theoretically do the same for Neeson, especially he adopts the same deadpan manner he did in this classic clip from Ted 2. That movie’s director, Seth McFarlane, who also worked with Neeson on A Million Ways to Die in the West, will be one of the producers here.
Pamela Anderson is the female lead
In an interesting piece of casting, Paramount has signed Pamela Anderson to play the love interest, in a role said to be akin to the one Priscilla Presley played in the original.
Who else will be in it?
No one knows (yet) who else will join Neeson in the cast, but a hot rumour that went around recently was that Anatomy of a Fall star Sandra Huller would co-star. While that would have been a delightfully off-kilter piece of casting, the rumour turned out to be bogus, which is a shame. There’s also a rumor Mads Mikkelsen will be playing the bad guy, which sounds almost too good to be true.
The original creators aren’t happy.
Sadly, two members of the original team behind The Naked Gun, David Zucker and Pat Proft aren’t happy about the reboot, with them telling THR that they actually came up with a draft for Naked Gun 4, which was rejected, and that if another movie in the series was going to be made, they should be the ones doing it (even if they hold no ill feelings towards Schaffer, who they praised).
When we get more info about the Naked Gun reboot, we’ll drop it here. Do you think Liam Neeson’s Naked Gun reboot sounds like it’ll be good? Let us know in the comments!