Liam Neeson is reportedly in talks to join a Men in Black spinoff. The project is being produced by Sony and will be directed by F. Gary Gray who also directed projects like Straight Outta Compton and The Fate of the Furious. The script will be written by Matt Holloway and Art Marcum, with a projected release date of May 17, 2019.
If Neeson officially signs on he will be joining Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, who have already committed to the project. Neeson’s role would be the head of the U.K. branch of the Men in Black organization. In the original film, there was a character who was head of the U.S. branch, which was played by Rip Torn. Emma Thompson took over that role in the subsequent spinoffs. The 1997 hit originally starred Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as Men in Black agents, but neither of those actors are expected to be a part of the upcoming project.
Liam Neeson’s next project to be released will be Steve McQueen’s Widows. His most recent comedy role was in Seth McFarlane’s A Million Ways to Die in the West, and his most recent thriller was The Commuter. Last year, the actor announced that he would be quitting action films considering his age. At the Toronto Film Festival, he shared his thoughts on the matter, saying “I’m sixty-fu**ing-five. Audiences are eventually going to go: ‘Come on.'”
Whether that’s true or not, it does seem that Liam Neeson has been making moves to head in other directions with his acting career. He might be retiring one genre, but he is certainly not retiring from acting altogether.