It’s been a while since we’ve heard from those agents who protect us from the worst scum of the universe, but a Men In Black spinoff is incoming, and it’s arriving with a particular set of skills.
It might not feel like it, but Agents J and K last hit cinemas in 2012 with the time-travelling and actually-quite-touching Men In Black 3 which, along with regulars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, starred Josh Brolin and Jermaine Clement.
Since then we’ve heard little from the franchise, except for the tantalising prospect of an improbable crossover between Men In Black and 21 Jump Street, until now and it involves our favourite angry Irishman out for retribution.
Yep, that’s right, a new Men In Black movie is happening, and Liam Neeson is going to star in it.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the husky-voiced action hero is in negotiations to join Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson in Sony’s spinoff of the popular sci-fi comedy.
Written by Iron Man screenwriters Matt Holloway and Art Marcum, and with F. Gary Gray on board to direct (Fate of the Furious and Straight Outta Compton) it’s set to be released in June 2019.
The film does not have a name as of yet, and is instead going by ‘Untitled ‘Men In Black’ Spin-Off’ on IMDb, making it clear that this new project is not a direct continuation of the characters we’ve come to know and love. The new movie is, however, set in the same onscreen world.
While the characters Hemsworth and Thompson play are being kept secret, it has been reported that Neeson will play the head the of the Men In Black organisation in London, where the story begins.
Producers of the original movies, Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, will be resuming their roles, as well as Hollywood royalty Steven Spielberg, who is returning as executive producer.
The 65-year-old Northern Irishman appeared on screens earlier this year in The Commuter after a very brief ‘retirement’ from action films.
Speaking at the Toronto Film Festival last year, the Taken actor spoke about the disbelief audiences might begin to feel at the sight of a pensioner action hero charging around and taking down the bad guys:
I’m sixty-f****ng-five. Audiences are eventually going to go: ‘Come on.’
Nonsense, you still look great to us, Liam.
Check him out in the recent Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down The White House:
However, speaking to Variety at the premiere of Mark Felt, Neeson was quick to set the record straight:
It’s not true, look at me! You’re talking in the past tense. I’m going to be doing action movies until they bury me in the ground. I’m unretired.
Glad to hear it, Liam. I for one can’t wait to see you don the black suit and do battle with some extra-terrestrials.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.