Everything we know about Liam Neeson’s Naked Gun reboot

The files of Police Squad have reopened and Lt. Frank Drebin is back

Liam Neeson and Leslie Nielsen
Liam Neeson will star in the Naked Gun reboot. (Getty/Alamy)

Prepare to delve back into the files of Police Squad as The Naked Gun gets the reboot treatment with action star Liam Neeson taking over as the son of one of comedy’s most iconic roles.

Directed by Airplane! filmmakers Jerry Zucker, David Zucker and Jim Abrahams — a comedy powerhouse better known as ZAZ — the original Naked Gun movie landed in 1988 with Leslie Nielsen starring as accident-prone cop Lt. Frank Drebin.

The movie was a big-screen adaptation of ZAZ’s short-lived comedy series Police Squad! and proved so successful it spawned two direct sequels with 1991’s The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear and Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult in 1994.

Over the years, a reboot has been long threatened but never materialised… until now, so here’s what we know about Neeson’s Naked Gun remake.

Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun
Leslie Nielsen played Lt. Frank Drebin in the original Naked Gun trilogy. (Alamy)

The Naked Gun reboot will strike cinemas on 18 July 2025, which means we don’t have too long to wait before we can join Frank on his next mission.

The film will be released by Paramount Pictures and produced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane who also wrote the story. The Lonely Island’s Akiva Shafer will direct the project.

Liam Neeson arrives at the UK premiere of Marlowe
Neeson will take over as the son of Leslie Nielsen’s character. (WireImage)

Neeson will take over as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr, the son of Nielsen’s original cop. He’ll be joined by I, Tonya star Paul Walter Hauser as Frank’s Captain Ed Hocken, played in the original film by George Kennedy.

Pamela Anderson will also appear in an as-yet-undisclosed role, with Rise of the Planet of the Apes star Kevin Durrand rumoured to be playing the film’s villain.

Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, professional wrestler Cody Rhodes, Avatar’s CCH Pounder and musician Busta Rhymes are all set to star in roles that remain a mystery for now.

There’s no trailer for the Naked Gun reboot just yet.

Seth MacFarlane arrives at Paley Fest LA 2024
Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane wrote the story for the Naked Gun reboot. (Getty Images)

Plot details for the Naked Gun reboot are still largely under wraps but we know that the film will be a legacy sequel, with Neeson playing Frank Drebin Jr.

This could mean that the movie will contain a few links back to previous instalments, with many outlets billing this 2025 remake as the fourth film in the Naked Gun franchise.

Previous Naked Gun adventures typically involved elaborate crime cases orchestrated by extravagant villains. Perhaps this new take will follow the same format, with Anderson presumably acting as Drebin’s new femme fatale love interest and Neeson following in his father's fumbled footsteps.

However, at the time of writing, all of this is speculative. We’ll have to wait until more evidence emerges before we can speak with any authority about the plot of Neeson’s Naked Gun reboot.


The Naked Gun reboot will be released in cinemas on 18 July 2025.