New Look at ‘The Naked Gun’ Revealed as Poster for Liam Neeson’s Comedy Hits

Paramount Pictures has released a brand new poster for The Naked Gun, giving fans the first official peek at Liam Neeson’s return to comedy. The movie is coming to theaters on August 1, 2025, and it’s being called a “legacy sequel” to the original film series, continuing where things left off after Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult, which came out in 1994.

This time, Neeson is playing Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., the son of the iconic cop character originally played by Leslie Nielsen. The film is directed by Akiva Schaffer, who also helped write the script with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. Schaffer is known for his work on Popstar and Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, so this movie looks like it’ll be heavy on the laughs and over-the-top action.

The cast is packed with big names. Pamela Anderson plays Beth Davenport. Paul Walter Hauser takes on the role of Captain Ed Hocken Jr. Others in the cast include Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes, Michael Bisping, Eddy Yu, and Moses Jones as Nordberg Jr.

The idea of bringing back The Naked Gun has been around for years. Back in 2013, Paramount started developing a reboot, with Ed Helms originally attached. That version didn’t move forward, and according to Variety, it went through a bunch of rewrites. At one point, David Zucker, who co-created the original films, said he was asked to be involved but turned it down. He told THR, “It just didn’t feel like the same kind of comedy we made back then.”

In 2021, Seth MacFarlane stepped in to help shape the new version. He had already mentioned years earlier that he thought Liam Neeson would be perfect for a comedy like this. Neeson later confirmed to Collider that MacFarlane and Paramount had pitched him the movie. “They came to me with the idea, and I thought it sounded hilarious,” he said.

By late 2022, the movie was greenlit, and Neeson officially signed on. Schaffer was hired to direct, and Gregor and Mand came in to write the final version of the script. The Writers Guild of America later confirmed that Schaffer, Gregor, and Mand would get the writing credit, with some earlier material coming from Mark Hentemann, Alec Sulkin, and MacFarlane himself.

In April 2024, Pamela Anderson joined the cast, and the rest of the ensemble quickly followed. Filming started in Atlanta in May 2024 under the working title Law of Toughness and wrapped up by the end of June.

The movie was first set to come out on July 18, 2025, but it’s now locked in for August 1. That gives fans of the original, and newcomers who are just in it for the laughs, something to look forward to this summer.

Not everyone is excited about it though. In April 2025, David Zucker told Deadline that he wasn’t happy about being left out of the project. “They didn’t ask me to be part of it. I’m not going to see it,” he said.

Even so, the release of the poster has sparked new excitement. Neeson in a detective’s suit, with that classic serious-but-silly expression, hints that this version of The Naked Gun is aiming to keep the chaotic spirit alive, just with a new Drebin in charge.

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