Liam Neeson Might Be Joining Cast of 'Men in Black' Spinoff

The spinoff currently has a May 17, 2019 expected release date.

liam neeson getty michael loccisano
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Image via Getty/Michael Loccisano

liam neeson getty michael loccisano

Sony's Men in Black spinoff is inching closer to its scheduled May 17, 2019 release date after getting fast-tracked by the studio last year. Now it looks like it's about to get another big star.

Variety reports that Liam Neeson is in talks to join a Men in Black cast that already includes Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. Neeson would reportedly play the head of the U.K. branch of a secret agency in the film. Rip Torn played a similar role—the head of the American division—in the original 1997 Men in Black.

Details of the movie's plot are scarce, but Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are not expected to make appearances in the F. Gary Gray-directed spinoff. The film will be based around a script written by Matt Holloway and Art Marcum—the writers of Iron Man and Transformers: The Last Knight. Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald will produce and Steven Spielberg will executive produce.

In September 2017, Parkes told Deadline, "It’s so rare to get to the end of the script and know you’re holding a movie in your hands, but Art and Matt have written a spinoff that somehow is true to the core of the MiB world and yet expands the franchise to a fresh new place."

The next Men in Black movie was originally rumored to be a mashup with 21 Jump Street, in which Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill's characters took the place of the lead MiB characters. According to Deadline, that idea has been in development as recently as late 2017. But the Gray-directed spinoff will come first.

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