‘The Naked Gun’ is getting a gloriously silly revival, and the new full trailer shows that Liam Neeson might just have the right deadpan skills to carry the baton.
Paramount has dropped the first full trailer for the upcoming reboot of the iconic slapstick franchise, giving us a better look at Neeson as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., son of the late, great Leslie Nielsen’s hilariously inept original.
In the new trailer, Pamela Anderson’s character Beth declares, “I think someone murdered my brother,” to which Drebin (Neeson) replies, “Please, take a chair,” which she promptly does. That moment of literal misunderstanding sets the tone for the deadpan absurdity that follows. There are also glimpses of “steamy” moments as Beth cleans Drebin’s oven (not a euphemism), the precinct slowly being turned into a Spirit Halloween store, and a cheeky nod to the classic pun-laden humour fans will expect. One standout gag? Drebin reading a prison file aloud: “It says you’ve served 20 years for man’s laughter.” Beat. “Must have been quite the joke.”
Directed by Akiva Schaffer (Saturday Night Live, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping), the film features a script by Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, and Schaffer, the same team behind the Emmy-winning Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers on Disney+. With Seth MacFarlane (Ted, Family Guy) producing alongside Erica Huggins for Fuzzy Door, and a creative team that clearly loves the source material, this reboot/sequel hybrid might just recapture the magic of the original Naked Gun madness.
The ensemble cast also includes Paul Walter Hauser (Cruella), CCH Pounder (NCIS: New Orleans), Kevin Durand (Locke & Key), Cody Rhodes (AEW), Liza Koshy (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), Eddie Yu, and Danny Huston (Yellowstone).
Originally created by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker, The Naked Gun franchise began life as the cult TV show Police Squad! before being immortalised in the 1988 film The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, spawning two sequels and decades of quotable comedy.
‘The Naked Gun’ crashes into UK cinemas on Friday, 1st August 2025.
