An upcoming TV series that chronicles the early days of Liam Neeson’s character in the trilogy of Taken movies has reportedly received a full-season order from NBC. Luc Besson, the producer and co-writer on all of three films, will produce the Taken TV series.
According to Deadline, the series will feature the character of Bryan Mills (played by Neeson in the movies) as a young man, sans wife and children. The report indicates that the series will be set in the present day, which isn’t unheard of for recent prequel series. Bates Motel, for example, serves as a prequel series to Psycho, yet is set in the present day.
The original films followed the adventures of former covert ops agent Mills as he used his deadly training to first hunt down the kidnappers who took his daughter, and then in later films to take down a vicious mob boss and clear his name.
The 2009 film directed by Pierre Morel was a surprise hit, and paved the way for Neeson’s resurgence as an action hero. The film earned more than $226 million globally, and spawned two sequels — each of which earned even more. Taken 2 was directed by Olivier Megaton and earned $376 million worldwide, and 2014’s Taken 3 (also directed by Megaton) earned around $325 million.
After appearing in Taken, Neeson went on to play action-hero roles in several subsequent movies, including 2011’s The Grey and 2014’s Non-Stop and A Walk Among the Tombstones.
Despite the box-office success of the first three films, there isn’t expected to be a fourth film in the Taken franchise.
The TV series is currently in search of a writer and showrunner.
