The Taken franchise turned Liam Neeson into a surprise action hero, but could he return for a Taken 4 movie? Prior to accepting the lead role in Taken, Liam Neeson was coming off a series of projects where he played a mentor or father figure role, including Kingdom Of Heaven and Batman Begins. Taken cast Neeson as retired CIA agent Bryan Mills, who travels to Paris to rescue his daughter from a human trafficking ring. The movie’s lean premise and fast-paced action, combined with Neeson’s charisma, turned Taken into a surprise word-of-mouth hit.

Though nothing has been confirmed, the Taken series is so malleable that a fourth film could literally be about anything. The ending of Taken 3 saw Bryan grow a bit as he heeded his daughter’s advice and didn’t kill Stuart, instead allowing him to be arrested. As far as good endings go, it was a nice way to conclude Bryan’s arc, but it was hardly conclusive enough to kill the franchise off forever.

In a sequel, Bryan could be spurred back into action by some new crisis, and the third film proved that the kidnapping format of the series wasn’t set in stone. On the other hand, the fourth film could turn back the clock and see Neeson once again set out to rescue somebody important to him from some criminal element who wants to kidnap them. In light of Neeson’s statements about the series, Taken 4 could also try replacing Neeson as the hero.

Taken was turned into a TV series in 2017. Clive Standen was cast as Bryan Mills, with the show acting as an origin story for the character seen in the movies – despite both being set in the modern day. The show found Mills seeking revenge for his sister’s death and explored his CIA days. Taken debuted with good ratings which gradually declined as the first season progressed.

A new showrunner came on for season 2, which acted as a semi-reboot and dropped most of the cast, only keeping Standen and co-star Jennifer Beals (Swamp Thing). Despite this fresh start, ratings kept declining, and Taken was canceled after two seasons. Though this didn’t eliminate the possibility of Taken 4, it showed that fans weren’t interested in the property unless Neeson was involved.