Frank Drebin Jr. Takes the Lead in The Naked Gun Reboot

For the past 30 years, audiences have been clamoring to hear the golden sound of a splat sock striking a carpeted floor. After all that time, the unmistakable sounds of slapstick crime-fighting are finally on the way back. The Naked Gun, the spoof comedy franchise defined by a combination of ridiculous humor and gut-busting antics, is officially returning for a new chapter, this time on August 1, 2025. This time around, Nielsen isnt the star. Instead, its Liam Neeson, taking over the franchise by playing the son of Frank Drebin, who will star in whats being called a legacy sequel.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! First hit screens in 1988, featuring Nielsen as the title character Frank Drebin. Drebin is both well-meaning and endearingly stupid, finding himself in hot water when he is called in to save the day from an assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth II during her state visit to the United States. The response was loud and clear, with the original quickly establishing a fan base among the crime-comedy crowd. Sequels followed: the 1991 The Naked Gun 2
2; The Smell of Fear, featuring Drebin trying to thwart a plot to kidnap the leading nuclear scientist in the country, and 1994s Naked Gun 33
3; The Final Insult, in which Drebin comes out of retirement to try to stop an Academy Awards bomb plot.

After that last installment, things came to a halt on the Naked Gun. The franchise was up for rebooting for the first time in 2013, when Paramount announced a new iteration of the series with The Office star Ed Helms cast as Frank Drebin, no relation. The film had a development hell run for many years for various reasons. David Zucker, the producer and director of the first two Naked Gun films, initially decided not to get involved with the reboot, telling Variety, I had no desire to do it and told them so. The issue at hand, he continued, is that Zucker felt that the reboot would simply be inferior. The old guard was briefly reunited in 2017, as Zucker helped to rework a script for a film in which Drebins son was a secret agent. That film, too, fell by the wayside.

It wasnt until 2021 that the film once again went into development, this time with Seth MacFarlane at the helm. At that point, Zucker was not on the team. It was also when Liam Neeson first came into the frame, as he signed on to the cast as Frank Drebin Jr., a lieutenant in the police force.

An All-NEW CastOf Old Characters

Paul Walter Hauser will play Captain Ed Hocken, Jr., the son of Drebin Sr.s old partner and friend, Ed Hocken. Hauser is currently slated to play Mole Man in the upcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps. Pamela Anderson also stars as Beth, a femme fatale whose brother is the victim of a murder that Drebin Jr. is called to investigate. The rest of the cast includes Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes, and Eddy Yu.

Fans first saw a glimpse of the film in a first teaser trailer that was released in April. The response was tepid, with Zucker telling TMZ that he regretted watching it, before continuing, I cant unsee it. There may be some cause for optimism for fans of the franchise, though. In the trailer, Neeson fully commits to the screwball nature of the franchise, spoofing his more straight-laced Taken character, and shouting to a criminal, Once you kill a man for revenge, theres no going back! He tears off the mans arms in the process and flings them at his attackers, who look on in horror. A voice in your head saying over and over
That was awesome,
he says.

In another sequence, both Frank and Ed Jr. are choked up and bawling while reading their fathers commemorative plaques, before being snapped out of it with the request to get a crime-solving weapon.

Fittingly, its not all nostalgia, though. This is still a Naked Gun movie, and a touch of lunacy is everywhere. The trailer teases a main story in which Drebin Jr. is called to help the beautiful Beth solve the murder of her brother. He must solve the mystery, or the Police Squad will be dissolved. Of course, this is undercut in one of the first lines spoken by one of Drebins suspects, when hes brought into the squad room and tries to justify his time in jail with a two-decade sentence by saying he did time for mans laughter. When Drebin Jr. corrects him that it was actually manslaughter, he asks, dry as you like, Must have been quite the joke.

From bursting into a coffee shop bathroom with a clip-on tie and ordering Police business, stat, to kicking through a window and calling someone out by his middle name, Neeson seems ready to put on the badge, or at least try to put it on, and take a spectacular tumble.

It may not be for all audiences, but its hard, if not impossible, to see it as not done with the right spirit and cheek. After all, is that not the very thing that made the originals beloved? With the trailer, The Naked Gun 2025 is on track to have audiences ready to see it in time for the summer of 25.