After three films of kidnap and sexagenarian derring-do, Liam Neeson has said the Taken series will come to a close.
Speaking ahead of Taken 3’s release in January 2015, the actor told USA Today that “it’s a rollicking good story, but I think this is the end.” While the first two concerned first his daughter then his ex-wife getting held hostage, this time round the focus is squarely on his ex-CIA character Bryan Mills, who is framed for murder. “This time, no more travelling,” he said. “If my daughter was ‘taken’ again on a trip, Bryan Mills would have to be certifiably locked up for bad parenting.”
The first two Taken films, which have made over $600m at the global box office, have been the springboard for Neeson to take on other action roles in films like Non-Stop, Battleship and A Walk Among the Tombstones. “If I feel audiences saying, ‘Come on, he’s 62, enough is enough,’ I’m very sensitive to that and if I pick up that vibe it will all stop,” he said of his slightly improbable ass-kicking twilight years. “And I’ll start playing dads or grandfathers. But I keep myself pretty fit and my knees are still great. And it’s fun.”
He also recently appeared in Seth MacFarlane comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West, and has just signed up to MacFarlane’s next film, the sequel to Ted.
The first film, about a man whose relationship with his walking, talking, foul-mouthed teddy bear gets in the way of his love life, was a huge critical and commercial success – it made $550m worldwide, and was named the Guardian’s second best film of 2012. Plot details for Ted 2 are non-existent, but Mark Wahlberg has said that his character and Ted are “crazier than ever.”
