Variety is reporting tonight that Taken star Liam Neeson is in talks to board Sony’s Men in Black reboot and should a deal place, he’ll join Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, with the actor being eyed for the role of the “head of the UK branch of the secret government agency.”
The currently untitled reboot, which has supposedly been pitched as a Jurassic World-styled revival of the franchise, also has its crosshairs placed on F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton, The Fate of the Furious) to direct, with a screenplay from Matt Holloway and Art Marcum of Iron Man fame. Oh, and it apparently has a release date, too: June 14th, 2019.
After a six-year hiatus and all that chatter of a potential crossover with Sony’s Jump Street franchise – a crossover that honestly sounded more and more like a logistical nightmare with each passing second – it seems the studio has now opted for a back-to-basics reboot that will presumably see Hemsworth and Thompson enlist as agents in the titular, super-secret organization.
After all, word is Sony’s soft reboot won’t herald the return of Agents K and J, and quite frankly, that’s music to our ears, as the characters – as played by Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith – were beginning to run out of steam by the time Men in Black 3 limped into theaters back in 2012.
From what we understand, this new take on the franchise will also be more of an ensemble piece, so don’t be fooled into thinking that the studio’s casting spree stops and ends at Hemsworth, Neeson and Thompson – even if their involvement is enough to make us stand up and take notice.
As always, we’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear more about the Men in Black reboot, but in the meantime, be sure to let us know what you think of the cast that Sony’s assembled thus far by dropping a comment in the usual place.
