Los Angeles: Liam Neeson-starrer hit thriller franchise "Taken" will be expanded as a prequel television series at NBC.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Luc Besson, who wrote and produced the 2008 thriller, which spawned two sequels, will co-produce the series with his studio EuropaCorp and Universal TV, reported Deadline.


The prequel drama series will be about Bryan Mills, the character played by Neeson in the movies, a young man with no wife and kids.


The series will focus on how Mills acquires his "very particular set of skills" and becomes the character we all know. The series will bend time as it will be set in modern day, not decades in the past.


"Taken" chronicled the life of a retired CIA operative on a one-man mission to save his kidnapped daughter and struck a cord with viewers, turning Neeson into an unlikely 60-year-old action star.


Search is underway for a writer/showrunner to spearhead the adaptation.


Executive producing "Taken" are Besson, who co-wrote the three movies in addition to producing the feature franchise, Gross, Edouard de Vesinne and Thomas Anargyros.