The last seven years have been crazy for actor Liam Neeson in the wake of the success brought on with his portrayal as retired CIA agent Bryan Mills in Pierre Morrel’s globetrotting espionage Euro actioner, Taken. The film led to a spectacular and epic trilogy with the latter two directed by Oliver Megaton and showcased Neeson in a role garnered with sheer fandom of a character that would do anything to protect his family.
Such a persona has really extended itself beyond the trilogy with Neeson in a number of recent roles where he plays a seasoned badass in some capacity with Jaume Collet-Serra’s Run All Night serving as the most recent example, and most likely with his upcoming action comedy, The Revenger now in the works at Universal’s Bluegrass with director Ruben Fleischer.
In the meantime, it’s the ‘Mills’ character getting all the love, and stemming largely from the very first scene he shares in the first film on the phone in which he makes it quite clear that not only would he find the people that kidnapped his daughter, but kill them as well if they didn’t let her go. It’s a scene full of veracity and speaks volumes for the action genre, and with a character so layered, it’s no wonder why Universal Television and EuropaCorp want to explore the character even further in a new prequel TV series as now being reported by The Wrap.
The series, for which a showrunner is still being sought after, will reportedly focus on the earlier life and career of CIA agent Bryan Mills as he acquires his all well known “particular set of skills”, long before he got married and had a child. EuropaCorp’s Luc Besson is exective producing with its company’s TV president Matthew Gross and co-chairs Edouard de Vesinne and Thomas Anagyros for the show to air on NBC.
The network has some amazing shows to its roster this year, including The Player, Blindspot and Heroes Reborn, so Taken is definitely right at home. But, I am curious as to which actor it is they have in mind to translate Neeson‘s performance into a younger persona since fans are generally geared toward Nesson’s grizzled look and overall grit.
This will get interesting in the months ahead. Stay tuned!
