Every time a 'Taken' movie is released, Liam Neeson laughs about his new status as a leading action movie star and says there won't be a sequel. But the 2008 original was such a surprise box office smash that it of course sparked a follow-up, and in 2012 'Taken 2' did roaring business as well. 

Liam Neeson in Taken 3
Liam Neeson will not make any more 'Taken' films. Apparently. 

Apparently, Neeson put his foot down, saying that no one from this beleaguered movie family could be kidnapped for a third film, so producer Luc Besson and his cowriter Robert Mark Kamen came up with a plot that's more of a pursuit movie with lots of kidnappings along the way.

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Now that 'Taken 3' is arriving in cinemas and likely to be a hit - mainly because everything else on release is highbrow awards bait - talk is naturally turning to a fourth part in the ongoing adventure.

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Neeson laughed again at the thought. "I don't think it can develop any more to satisfy audiences," he said, before adding, "but you never know! We'll see how successful 'Taken 3' becomes."

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Neeson also repeated that the only way the series could continue would be to remove the family-under-threat set-up. It would have to be "something completely different - a scenario with his little covert group of military buddies".

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In other words, the door is open for a continuing franchise here, although using his gang of retired super-soldiers might make the movie begin to feel more a spin-off from 'The Expendables'.