The Naked Gun Legacy Sequel Drops First Full Trailer

No, Frank Drebin is not coming back from the dead. But the Naked Gun is still on and has a 2025 release date.

The famed parody trilogy — best known for its deadpan silliness and penchant for ludicrous puns — is reportedly on its way back to the big screen with a “legacy sequel” featuring Liam Neeson in the lead role.

The star will play the late Frank Drebin’s son in a long-awaited revival of the series. Drebin will be played by Neeson, who has found a new lease of life in comedy. The casting was announced on Wednesday after being in the works since the franchise first attempted a reboot in 2013.

“The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” was first released in 1988, starring Leslie Nielsen as the lovable oaf of a detective. Drebin tries to stop a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II during her trip to the United States. The setup and humor were hoots, and the film remains one of the most quotable crime comedies of all time. Two sequels, 1991’s “The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear” and 1994’s “Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult,” continued Drebin’s endearingly awful adventures. In the second, he must stop an assassination plot to kidnap a top nuclear scientist. And in the last film, he is retired but returns to catch a bomber attempting to set off explosives during the Academy Awards.

A third sequel was considered but never materialized. A reboot was originally announced in 2013 by Paramount and was to star The Office actor Ed Helms as “Frank Drebin, no relation.” The movie never materialized, though, which may or may not have been due to creative differences. Original Naked Gun producer and director David Zucker decided against coming on board with the project, saying any reboot would be “inferior” to the originals. He did return in a reworking of the script in 2017, but it still did not get past the development stage. Drebin’s son was a secret agent in that version, and Drebin still no longer existed.

The idea of Drebin’s son in the new movie resurfaced in 2021 with Seth MacFarlane attached to helm the comedy, but without Zucker’s involvement. The actor attached to the role, at least in the beginning, was Liam Neeson as Drebin Jr., who, like his father, is a lieutenant with a tendency toward getting into dangerous situations.

The film will also star Paul Walter Hauser as Captain Ed Hocken, Jr. (the son of Drebin Sr.’s long-time partner Ed), and Pamela Anderson as Beth, a femme fatale whose brother has been murdered and about whom Drebin is trying to find out the info, which forms the basis of the new movie’s mystery.

Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes, and Eddy Yu will also be joining the action.

Paul Walter Hauser, for his part, is currently starring in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and will also be Mole Man in the upcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The first teaser dropped in April, and audiences, including original Naked Gun producer David Zucker, were not so kind. Zucker told TMZ after watching the teaser, “The one thing I regret is that I watched the teaser, because I can’t unsee it.” Still, as with most teasers, there are reasons to be hopeful. The first big one is that Neeson is seemingly embracing the spirit of the franchise’s screwball pastiche with a wink, mocking his own no-nonsense “particular set of skills” Taken character with a hilarious bit in which he quips to a knife-wielding attacker, “Once you kill a man for revenge, there’s no going back.” He then proceeds to tear his assailant’s arms off and slam them over his head like flippers before casually remarking, “A voice in your head saying over and over, ‘That was awesome.’” And he’s not the only one; the trailer also features several subtle but genuine moments that reference the franchise’s past, like a pained exchange Frank and Ed Jr. have when they tear up in front of bronze nameplates honoring their fathers.

The silliness of the film’s most outrageous lines in the trailer alone could fill another article. Most people can probably guess how a scene will play out when the cliched threat of “do this or else I’ll kill your wife/daughter/kid” pops up. But just wait until you see the crook who “did 20 years for man’s laughter” and have your expectations hilariously subverted. What makes it better is that Drebin, played perfectly deadpan by Neeson, just nods and says, “Must have been quite the joke.” When he’s not busting chops with his no-nonsense routine, he’s occupying an entire coffee shop bathroom for “police business” or brashly walking into a fight, ready for action.

The jokes will not be for everyone. It’s a mix of puns, dad jokes, and gags that appeal to a younger crowd than the Naked Gun used to, and it is by design. It’s still a revival, albeit one where Frank Drebin himself is dead and gone. But that isn’t the point. It’s going to be a callback to some of the cheesiest crime comedies of all time. For fans, that’s enough reason to be excited.