Liam Neeson Returning for 'Taken 3' After Closing $20 Million Deal

It's always, always about the money - isn't it? News just broke that Liam Neeson has signed on to return for another sequel, Taken 3, to continue the series first started by Pierre Morel, Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen back in 2008. That movie was followed-up with the sequel Taken 2, which received considerably lower ratings but also earned $50 million opening in October of last year. Now he's back for more. What was it that sealed the deal? Deadline reports it was a paycheck "in the vicinity of $20 million" that got Neeson to return for another round as Bryan Mills, loving father with a "special set of skills." Do we really need this?

Now that it's happening we have to ask: what the heck are they going to do? Is his family going to get taken again? We'll find out soon enough how they'll continue to rehash this story again. EuropaCorp already has another script in the works written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, behind the first two, and are planning to start production in February. A director hasn't been set, but Deadline says "don’t be surprised if Olivier Megaton [from Taken 2] comes back." Right before the second movie opened, Neeson was quoted as saying: "I don't see it. I don't think [Taken 3 is] going to happen. I really don't. I can't see a possible scenario where audiences wouldn't go, 'Oh, come on…! She's taken again?'" They must have convinced him.

Liam Neeson is currently 61 years old and has been nominated for an Oscar, but hasn't won (yet). He has a number of other roles coming up, including Jaume Collet-Serra's Non-Stop, Scott Frank's A Walk Among the Tombstones, Paul Haggis' Third Person, The Lego Movie and Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West. But it's still the Taken role that has put him in the most international spotlight recently, with the second movie taking in $376 million in total. But still - is there really a need for a third movie? Anyone?

1 Nielsen700 on Jun 24, 2013

2 OfficialJab on Jun 24, 2013

3 Cody W on Jun 24, 2013

4 Brian Sleider on Jun 24, 2013

5 Fidel Reyes on Jun 24, 2013

6 John Waters on Jun 24, 2013

7 SkylerB619 on Jun 24, 2013

8 Me Again on Jun 25, 2013

9 truong18 on Jun 24, 2013

10 Avi on Jun 24, 2013

11 josh on Jun 24, 2013

12 Brian Sleider on Jun 24, 2013

13 Nick Sears on Jun 24, 2013

14 Yoonmi on Jun 25, 2013

15 DAVIDPD on Jun 24, 2013

16 wayner on Jun 25, 2013

17 Carpola on Jun 25, 2013

18 Luke Hill on Jun 25, 2013

19 Michael Garza-Allen on Jun 25, 2013

20 Jeff Metzger on Jun 25, 2013

21 Steven on Jun 25, 2013

22 Wafffles on Jun 25, 2013

23 DJROBL on Jun 25, 2013

24 jimmy joo joo shidabadoo on Jun 25, 2013

25 Charlie Hard on Jun 25, 2013

26 tetzumaru on Jun 25, 2013

27 jet2.0 on Jun 25, 2013

28 NeelJani on Jun 25, 2013

29 OriginalBryGuy on Jun 28, 2013

30 marcarzt on Jun 29, 2013

31 ash on Jul 11, 2013

32 oragami on Aug 3, 2013

33 Daniel T Allen on Aug 5, 2013

34 Enxh Destani on Nov 14, 2013

Sorry, new comments are no longer allowed.