"The Naked Gun" Teaser Trailer: Liam Neeson Takes Over as Lt. Frank Drebin (Junior) in This Hilarious Spoof Revival

In this long-awaited reboot, Neeson steps into the shoes of Frank Drebin’s son, leading a new generation of absurd visual gags and puns in a tribute to the beloved original franchise.

Any fans of ‘80s and ‘90s comedies would rank The Naked Gun franchise up there with some of the greatest spoofs ever made, and Police Squad! as one of the best comedy series that only lasted six episodes before being canceled, leading to the introduction of Leslie Nielsen’s iconic, absent-minded detective, Frank Drebin.

Packed with wildly inventive visual gags, hilarious puns, and non sequiturs, The Naked Gun films were a pure delight, always bringing a smile to even the coldest of hearts.

Fast forward to today’s movie landscape, and sadly, comedies are severely lacking—especially spoofs. After a series of films in the early 2000s that poked fun at genre films, it seems the art of the spoof has dwindled, with fewer filmmakers taking risks in this beloved, often irreverent genre.

And if you really think about it, there’s no better time than now for a comedy to hit the big screen and make a room full of moviegoers explode in pure laughter. Believe us, we all need a good laugh to forget our troubles right about now.

So, who will step up and become our comedy savior? Who will be brave enough to attempt to make us laugh so hard we forget about everything else and, for a minute, truly live in a moment of pure joy?

Well, that man is Liam Freakin’ Neeson! He’s going to use those particular skills to do a different type of killing—this time, it's all about killing with side-splitting comedy, proving that even the toughest action star can bring the laughs when needed.

Check out the first official teaser for the upcoming Naked Gun reboot, a long-awaited installment that both serves as “the new version” and honors the original franchise.

Liam Neeson stars as Lt. Frank Drebin … Junior, the son of Leslie Nielsen’s beloved character Frank Drebin.

In fact, the cast will feature the sons of other notable characters from the franchise, like Paul Walter Hauser, who costars as Capt. Ed Hocken, Junior, the son of George Kennedy’s character, and there’s Nordberg … okay. Like Bruno, we don’t talk about Nordberg around these parts.

Produced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer takes on the duty of directing the upcoming spoof, following his well-received live-action, cartoon hybrid comedy Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers and the now cult mockumentary Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.

And Schaffer, a former SNL writer, and MacFarlane will have some big shoes to fill taking over this franchise from original creators David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams.

Pamela Anderson, fresh off her acclaimed lead performance in The Last Showgirl, will also star alongside Neeson and Hauser.

Meanwhile, rounding out the cast are Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, Eddie Yu, CCH Pounder, and Busta Rhymes.

The Naked Gun is slated to hit theaters on August 1st. Watch the teaser trailer, above.