Police Squad Is Back in The Naked Gun Sequel

“It’s happening, it’s happening!” Frank Drebin will probably exclaim at some point, but don’t worry, this is not the Naked Gun 2025 — it is happening, and Liam Neeson is headlining. After three decades of relative radio silence, long-running spoof comedy franchise The Naked Gun is officially coming back to the big screen. Slated to release on August 1, 2025, Neeson will be portraying Drebin’s son in a “legacy sequel” to the popular ’80s and ’90s Police Squad! Movies.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! was first released in 1988 to mild financial success and a strong cultural impact. The movie starred Leslie Nielsen as Detective Frank Drebin, who tries to save the life of Queen Elizabeth II from an assassination plot when she visits the United States. The over-the-top, zany humor and slapstick elements quickly made the film a classic crime-comedy, and two sequels were made: The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, in which Drebin foils a plot to kidnap the world’s leading nuclear scientist, and 1994’s Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult, where Drebin comes out of retirement to stop a plot to bomb the Academy Awards.

After the third movie, though, the momentum stopped. In 2013, Paramount announced that a reboot of the franchise was on its way, starring The Office star Ed Helms as “Frank Drebin, no relation.” However, a long development period saw the film slip into limbo, in part because David Zucker, producer and director of the first two Naked Gun films, declined to take part in the reboot. Zucker called all talk of a reboot “bullshit” and said that a new film would be inferior to the originals. He later re-upped in 2017 to give a rewrite to a script he co-wrote with Robert Smigel for a new film with Drebin’s son, a secret agent.

The project picked up again in 2021, this time with Seth MacFarlane attached to direct and with Zucker remaining on the sidelines. Neeson, meanwhile, had jumped on board as Frank Drebin Jr., a lieutenant in the police department who gets assigned to help solve the murder of Beth, a femme fatale and Drebin’s new case.

Meet the Cast of the Naked Gun

In the new movie, Drebin Jr. will be accompanied by Police Squad! Alumnus Paul Walter Hauser as Captain Ed Hocken, Jr., the son of Drebin Sr.’s sidekick in the original films. Hauser is probably best known at this point for his upcoming role in Fantastic Four: First Steps as Mole Man. Pamela Anderson will also be joining Neeson as Beth, the aforementioned femme fatale whose brother is murdered, kicking off the plot of the new Naked Gun.

Other notable cast members include Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes, and Eddy Yu.

Fans got a sneak peek at the new film with a teaser trailer in April, which has since received mixed critical reception. David Zucker, predictably, did not think much of the teaser, telling TMZ that he watched it against his better judgment and now “can’t unsee it.” However, there are some silver linings for fans in the trailer: Neeson is jumping right into the brand of screwball humor, notably parodying his well-known “particular set of skills” persona from the Taken films. At one point in the trailer, Neeson says, “Once you kill a man for revenge, there’s no going back” before tearing his attacker’s arms off and using them to bludgeon him. “A voice in your head saying over and over ‘That was awesome,’” the actor adds.

Drebin Jr. also appears to have an emotional connection to his father and the old Police Squad, as both he and Captain Ed Jr. become choked up in front of plaques commemorating their fathers in one of the trailer’s most touching moments.

But not all is emotional reminiscing, of course. As always, the Naked Gun is as much about the body humor and the gags as it is the story. It’s a foregone conclusion that Drebin Jr. will figure things out after Beth tasks him with the job of solving her brother’s murder, or the Police Squad will be shut down. Lines like “When you’re young and stupid” or one suspect claiming to have served 20 years for “man’s laughter” are quickly addressed in classic Naked Gun fashion, as Drebin Jr. politely points out that he served time for “manslaughter.” “Must have been quite the joke,” the actor deadpans.

Watching the trailer, Neeson is more than game to steal a Police Squad bathroom to conduct police business, or to hand out one-liners with as much deadpan confidence as Nielsen.

The humor will not be to everyone’s taste: broad, pun-heavy, and just ridiculous enough to be endearing in its irreverence. But, again, that is also precisely what made the original Naked Gun movies such cultural mainstays. If the trailer is any indication, The Naked Gun 2025 is set to bring a summer staple back in a big way for a crowd-pleasing, mindless nostalgia fest.