Barely nine months after Taken 3 limped into movie theaters, the franchise has found new life on TV.
According to Deadline, NBC has ordered a Taken prequel TV show direct-to-series. Taken director Luc Besson will executive produce the series through his studio EuropaCorp alongside Universal TV. In the three Taken movies, Liam Neeson played Bryan Mills, a former covert operative who used his “specialized skills” to save his daughter and ex-wife from repeated kidnappings.
Naturally, Neeson isn’t expected to return for the Taken prequel series, which will depict a much younger Bryan Mills before he was a family man and tell the story about how he became such a badass dude. But in a further twist, Taken: The Series won’t be set in the past even though Bryan Mills would have been in his twenties during the ‘70s. Instead, young Bryan Mills’ story will take place entirely in the present.
Related: Taken 3 Exclusive Freeway Chase Special Feature
NBC and EuropaCorp are currently looking for a screenwriter/showrunner to bring Taken to television. Besson’s most recent foray into American television was NBC’s Taxi Brooklyn, an adaptation of Besson’s French film Taxi. But Taxi Brooklyn lasted only a single season before NBC canceled it. Besson had more luck with La Femme Nikita, which was adapted twice as a TV series, and with Transporter: The Series, which ran for two seasons.
Action fans, are you onboard with a Taken prequel series on NBC? Let us know in the comment section below!
