‘Taken’: Movie heads to NBC as TV series

According to Deadline, NBC has issued a straight-to-series order to the drama, which will center on a younger version of Mills, the character originated by Liam Neeson in the film series.

Luc is an executive producer on the series along with Matthew Gross, Edouard de Vesinne and Thomas Anargyros.

The Taken series has proven pretty popular with three movies so far – naturally that means its spin off time.

NBC has picked up Taken for a prequel show focusing on the earlier days of retired Central Intelligence Agency agent Bryan Mills, Liam Neeson’s character in the original movie franchise. In addition, the removal of Mills” wife and daughter from the story seems to suggest it’s unlikely that the show will retain the trope of his family getting repeatedly “taken’, unless he has an extremely unlucky cousin we have never heard about or something.

The film performed well at the box office, raking in a total gross of $226 million from cinemas worldwide, and allowing Neeson to regain his status as a reputable action star.

As Taken fans know best, the film’s first installment hit theaters in 2008, starring Neeson, Maggie Grace (The Choice, Susanna) and Famke Janssen (Hemlock Grove, X-Men). Among these series are “Uncle Buck” on ABC, “Behind Enemy Lines” and “Minority Report” on Fox, “Training Day“, “Rush Hour” and “Limitless” on CBS, and “The Notebook” and “Friday the 13th” on The CW. For its part, NBC is also prepping a gay-focused remake of TV series Hart to Hart. The network did the same for its much-hyped Coach revival, before ultimately pulling the plug on the project last month.

The number of episodes to be included in the “Taken” prequel remains unconfirmed. Taken is only the latest of the director’s films to get translated to the small screen. No further details have been announced about casting, location and the start of production.