Taken 3rounded out theTakentrilogy last year, and though it did well at the box office, it wasn’t really received very well by anyone, be it fans or critics. The law of diminishing returns, at least on the quality side of things, caught up with the franchise, but it did make money, so is there a chance we are going to seeTaken 4at some point? According toLiam Neeson, absolutely not.
The actor recently appeared onThe Late Showin order to promote his upcoming movieA Monster Calls, which is getting some very positive buzz ahead of its release.Stephen Colbertfound some time to ask him about the possibility ofTaken 4happening at some point, andLiam Neesonmakes it clear that there is absolutely no chance of that, at least to his knowledge. Here is what he had to say.
“No, there’s not. There’s only so many times your daughter can be taken. Actually if we do have another it will be, ‘Please can you take my daughter’?”
Jokes aside,Liam Neesonhas a good point. The firstTakenwas met with relatively mixed reception from critics but action movie fans absolutely loved it. The movie had a verysimple premiseand surrounded that premise with a somewhat unconventional action hero with a ton of great action and one very memorable speech. The problem with bothTaken 2andTaken 3is that they both rehashed the concept of antagonist Bryan Mills having his daughter abducted. At some point, he just becomes a terrible father for letting this happen, instead of an excellent one for saving her. So it makes complete sense thatTaken 4won’t happen.
That said, theTakenfranchise is going to continue. NBC has picked up theTaken TV show, which will explore the origins ofLiam Neeson’s characterBryan Millsand how he got his start in the CIA.The Fifth ElementdirectorLuc Besson, who produced and co-wrote the script forTaken, is serving as an Executive Producer on the series. Assuming the show finds some success, it is entirely possible that another movie could be made featuringClive Standen, who is playing a younger version of Bryan Mills. Or if the series is successful it could inspire the studio to move ahead with anotherTakenmovie withoutLiam Neeson, which happened with theTransporterfranchise whenEd Skreintook over forJason StathaminThe Transporter Refueled.
To date, the three movies in theTakenfranchise have made nearly $1 billion worldwide and they cost comparatively very little to make. So despite fans' feelings and despite the fact thatLiam Neesonwon’t be doingTaken 4, there could still be anotherTakenmovie if there is money to be made. You can check out the clip fromThe Late Showfor yourself below.
