Slapstick Returns in The Naked Gun 2025

Fans of The Naked Gun have three decades to look forward to—the famed spoof-comedy franchise is officially getting a reboot. The long-awaited project, scheduled for release on August 1, 2025, will not be starring Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin. In the new installment, the beloved, bald crime-solver will be played by Liam Neeson as Drebin’s son in what is being described as a “legacy sequel.”

First released in 1988, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! was the first in a trilogy of throwback crime-comedy spoofs. The film features Nielsen as Detective Frank Drebin and follows him as he uncovers a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II in the U.S. The film was a hit with audiences who dug its offbeat parody of 30s- and 40s-style screwball comedies. In 1991, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, Drebin would take on another threat, this time to kidnap the country’s top nuclear scientist. Two years later, Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult sent the investigator out of retirement to foil a plot to blow up the Academy Awards.

The fourth iteration has proved to be much more difficult. The project was first announced by Paramount in 2013 as a reboot. The film was said to be a fresh take, with Ed Helms as “Frank Drebin, no relation.” But the project fizzled out after a series of bumps. David Zucker, producer and director of the first two Naked Gun films, was not interested in being involved in any reboot efforts as he felt any film without his creative input would be “inferior” to the first two films. In 2017, he signed on to work with Warner Bros. to rework a version of the reboot where Drebin’s son was the actual secret agent. That film, too, never moved forward.

Fast forward to 2021, the project was reinvigorated under Seth MacFarlane’s new take with no Zucker oversight. It’s when Liam Neeson signed on to play Drebin Jr., the police lieutenant’s son of the original hero.

A New Squad

Alongside Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. is Paul Walter Hauser as Captain Ed Hocken, Jr., son of Drebin Sr.’s Frank Drebin’s long-time partner Captain Ed Hocken. Hauser will also be seen as Mole Man in the upcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps. Pamela Anderson is the latest addition to the cast, who joins Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes, and Eddy Yu in the feature.

In the first teaser trailer for the film, released in April, Neeson can be seen having a full-on facial from an attacker, his typical action hero stoicism gone as he grimaces in pain. The trailer was met with mixed reviews, but according to David Zucker, “It’s not even a trailer. … I saw the teaser, and I can’t unsee it. It was very painful.” Neeson, on the other hand, seems to be in the proper slapstick spirit, imitating his signature “particular set of skills” voice from the Taken franchise in an intense scene of arm-ripping violence. “Once you kill a man for revenge, there’s no going back,” Neeson growls. He then uses his blood-stained arms to bludgeon the attacker. “A voice in your head saying over and over ‘That was awesome.’” he continues in the trailer.

Other classic shots in the trailer include Neeson and Hauser cracking tears as they stand before commemorative plaques that honor their respective fathers. Also notable in the trailer is the introduction of the film’s femme fatale. Played by Pamela Anderson, the sultry Beth’s brother has been murdered, and she needs Drebin Jr.’s help to find the killer. The stakes are high, as a failed investigation will lead to the shutdown of the Police Squad. At least that’s the narrative as the film’s main character claims he has only 18 hours to solve the case, as we cut to a clown being punched in the face, yelling back at him, “nineteen.” Other jokes in the trailer: a suspect says he served 20 years for “man’s laughter” before Drebin clarifies that it was “manslaughter.” The detective then deadpans, “Must have been quite the joke.”

The newly retooled squad will also be getting in some head-butting as Drebin Jr. walks into a coffee shop bathroom in the middle of a crime scene, exclaiming, “Move aside, I need to go to the bathroom for police business.” He then finds himself in a headlock with an officer as Drebin Jr. tells him he’s needed back at the station right away. “But I just sat down,“ the officer laments. The fresh-faced squad might be ready and in on the gag, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be getting punched in the face by a wall—or seemingly at the end of an invisible gun—in true Naked Gun fashion.

The jokes may not be for all audiences, but if the original Naked Gun franchise taught us anything, it’s that if you’re the audience for broad humor and pun-filled hilarity, then you’re in for a treat when The Naked Gun 2025 arrives.