The trailer for the upcoming The Naked Gun reboot is here, and it showcases its new goofy leading man in Liam Neeson.
Produced by Seth MacFarlane and directed & written by The Lonely Island‘s Akiva Schafer, 2025’s The Naked Gun sees Neeson taking over the reins from the late Leslie Nielsen, who starred as bumbling police detective Franklin “Frank” Drebin in the franchise’s three films. Its reboot is set for release on August 1.
The trailer shows a young girl stroll into the scene of a bank robbery, ignoring pleas from police officers. The girl is then revealed to be Neeson in disguise, and he takes down the robbers while in a preppy girl’s outfit.
Neeson is identified as the son of Frank Drebin, simply named Frank Drebin Jr.. Another scene features a joke where Neeson and his colleagues tearfully pay tribute to their elder counterparts – characters from earlier Naked Gun films.
However, one of them is Detective Nordberg, played by O.J. Simpson – the actor performed the role years before his infamous criminal trial that upended his entertainment career. Unlike his grieving colleagues, his on-screen son simply shakes his head to the camera. Watch the trailer below.
The Naked Gun features a cast that includes Pamela Anderson – fresh off her critically-acclaimed dramatic turn in The Last Showgirl – along with Paul Walter Hauser, Busta Rhymes, CCH Pounder and WWE‘s Cody Rhodes.
The original Naked Gun trilogy starred Leslie Nielsen in its 1988 original film, along with the sequels The Naked Gun 2 1/2 : The Smell Of Fear in 1991 and Naked Gun 33 1/2 : The Final Insult in 1994.
In 2022, Neeson joked about joining the reboot, quipping that it could make or break his career: “I’ve been approached by Seth MacFarlane and Paramount Studios to maybe resurrect the Naked Gun films. It’ll either finish my career or bring it in another direction. I honestly don’t know.”
In recent years, Neeson has become known for starring in action films like Taken and Non-Stop, although he has discussed the prospect of leaving the action roles behind. Speaking on The Tonight Show back in 2022, he said: “I think the action movies will draw to a close, they have to. Audiences aren’t stupid, you know. They’re gonna go, ‘Oh, fuck, this guy, Liam Neeson. He’s got to be 71, 72, 73…’ I’ll stop at some stage.”
Neeson’s forthcoming slapstick turn – a first for the Irish actor – may just mirror the career trajectory of Nielsen in the 1980s.
Nielsen was primarily known for serious, dramatic roles prior to his breakout performance in 1981’s blockbuster satire Airplane! at age 55, after which he took on almost exclusively comedic roles like in The Naked Gun films, along with Dracula: Dead And Loving It, Repossessed, Mr. Magoo, and Scary Movie 3.
Neeson previously collaborated with MacFarlane on A Million Ways To Die In The West, along with cameo appearances in Ted 2 and Orville.
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