The Naked Gun Adds Paul Walter Hauser in Key Role

Liam Neeson’s Naked Gun reboot has added Paul Walter Hauser in a key role. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hauser is set to play Captain Ed in the untitled film which is set to be released by Paramount Pictures on July 18, 2025. George Kennedy previously played Captain Ed in the original, 1988 film, The Naked Gun, From the Files of Police Squad! Hauser joins the aforementioned Neeson as well as Pamela Anderson in the cast. Additional plot details have not been made available, though it’s expected that Neeson is playing bumbling detective Frank Drebin, first portrayed by the late Leslie Nielsen.

The Naked Gun reboot will be directed by Akiva Schaffer with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand penning the script along with Schaffer. Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins of Fuzzy Door produce. The film is based on the Naked Gun franchise, which itself spawned from the short-lived Police Squad! television series created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, who were the creative minds behind Airplane!

The original Naked Gun, Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, was released in 1988, and was a huge box office hit. The film earned more than $150 million against a reported budget of $12 million and spawned two more films — Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult which were released in 1991 and 1994 respectively. The original Naked Gun film starred Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalban, George Kennedy, O.J. Simson and more as well as featured a number of cameos. The plot followed Nielsen’s bumbling police lieutenant Frank Drebin who set out to uncover a criminal plot involving people being mind controlled to assassinate targets.

Paul Walter Hauser to Star in Chris Farley Biopic

It was recently announced that Hauser will also star in an upcoming biopic based on the life of comedian Chris Farley. The film will be adapted from The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts and is set to be directed by Josh Gad. Saturday Night Live creator Loren Michaels is producing while Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber are writing the script. The film does not yet have a release date, though it was recently announced that the film was acquired by New Line.

Hauser is best known for his role in Black Bird, for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He will also next appear in Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out 2, where he voices Embarrassment and is also set to appear in Apple’s The Instigators as well as Americana, opposite Sydney Sweeney. He has also starred in films such as Richard Jewell, I, Tonya, and Cruella, as well as the television series Cobra Kai.