Liam Neeson Gets Absurd in New ‘Naked Gun’ Poster That Mocks AI and Teases His Comedy Turn

A brand-new Naked Gun movie is on the way, and this time Liam Neeson is stepping into the world of silly crime-fighting as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. The film is set to come out in U.S. theaters on August 1, 2025, and it promises a mix of throwback jokes and new characters that aim to bring back the goofy fun of the original films.

The director is Akiva Schaffer, who also co-wrote the script along with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. According to Paramount Pictures, this will be the fourth movie in the series, following 1994’s Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult.

Instead of a reboot, it’s being called a legacy sequel, meaning it continues the story but with a new generation. Neeson plays the son of Leslie Nielsen’s iconic detective character.

The cast is packed with familiar faces and a few surprising ones. Pamela Anderson is playing a character named Beth. Paul Walter Hauser plays Capt. Ed Hocken Jr. Moses Jones takes over as Nordberg Jr. There’s also Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, CCH Pounder, and even appearances by Busta Rhymes and Cody Rhodes. The movie seems to be going for big laughs and big energy.

Promotion has already started, and the film’s first poster definitely gets attention. It features Neeson’s character, but with a bunch of fingers, clearly a joke about AI-generated images. The poster says, “No AI was used in the making of this poster,” which is a funny jab at the recent arguments in Hollywood about using AI in movies. This issue was a major talking point during the 2023 writers and actors strikes.

According to Variety and Deadline, this project has been in the works for over a decade. Paramount first announced it in 2013, with Ed Helms originally attached to play a new Frank Drebin. At that time, Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant were working on the script, and the idea was that Helms would play someone “Frank Drebin, no relation,” so they could start fresh without ignoring the old films.

But things kept changing. David Zucker, one of the creators of the original series, was asked to help but turned it down. He later worked with Pat Proft on a different version in 2017, where the new Drebin was more of a secret agent. They even considered calling it Naked: Impossible because, as Zucker said, “they don’t make cop movies anymore.”

The project really picked up again when Seth MacFarlane got involved in 2021. He had been wanting to cast Liam Neeson in a comedy like this for years. MacFarlane’s production company, Fuzzy Door, joined the project, and by 2022, it was officially happening with Neeson in the lead and Schaffer directing.

The script has been through many hands, including Gregor, Mand, Mark Hentemann, Alec Sulkin, and MacFarlane himself. The Writers Guild later gave final screenplay credit to Gregor, Mand, and Schaffer.

Filming started in Atlanta in May 2024 and wrapped in late June. The working title on set was Law of Toughness, which is pretty perfect for a parody like this.

Now fans are just waiting to see how Liam Neeson handles a slapstick role. After years of action dramas, this is a big shift for him. But with a team that includes longtime comedy writers and MacFarlane’s influence, there’s a good chance it will hit the right balance of silly and sharp.

And based on that poster alone, it’s clear the new Naked Gun isn’t afraid to get weird, which is exactly what fans were hoping for.

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