Liam Neeson’s best moviesinclude several action thrillers released over the last 25 years, butTakenis the only one that became a successful franchise for him. He had the chance to star in a second series of this subgenre with one of his action movies, but ultimately never followed through on it. That film was the 2014 release,Non-Stop.
Renowned as a dramatic actor for his performance in Best Picture WinnerSchindler’s List, and having also made his mark on the fantasy genre with roles inStar WarsandThe Chronicles of Narnia,Neeson is still strongly associated withTaken.However, though the first movie about a retired CIA agent saving his daughter is a classic, subsequent sequels saw poorer and poorer reception.
InNon-Stop,directed by Jaume Collet-Serra(Orphan), Neeson stars as an alcoholic ex-NYPD officer turned Federal Air Marshal named Bill Marks.This central character starts getting texts from a killer saying they will kill someone on board his flight every 20 minutesuntil their financial demands are met. Marks has to find the killer before the bodies start to pile up.
Non-Stop Was Liam Neeson’s Best Potential Replacement For Taken
This Could Have Been Neeson’s Die Hard Franchise
Liam Neeson had previously worked withdirector Jaume Collet-Serra on 2011’sUnknown, two years before his lead role inNon-Stop.Unknownis a more cerebral action thriller,where Neeson plays a man who wakes up from a coma, but no one recognizes him, and he must prove his identity while another man claims to be him.
Non-Stopis a twisty thriller similartoUnknown, but the action takes place on an international flight, where people start dying, and the authorities believe that Neeson’s character, Bill Marks, is the real suspect. By the end ofNon-Stop, Marks learns who the terrorists on the plane are and stops them, proving his innocence and becoming a hero.
InNon-Stop, Neeson is more akin to Bruce Willis inDie Hard.
With Neeson as a Federal Air Marshal who serves as the hero, this opened the door for a new franchise centered around the character,perhaps restarting his law enforcement career or simply finding himself in more dire situations. While inTaken,Neeson plays a person with a specific skill set who can kill bad guys, inNon-Stop, he is more akin to Bruce Willis inDie Hard, which we know could have allowed for several sequels.
Non-Stop Didn’t Have To Stop At One Movie
Non-Stop Was One Of Neeson’s More Successful Action Movies
Non-Stopwas a box office hit, grossing $222.8 million on a $50 million budget, further solidifyingLiam Neeson’s status as a bankable action movie star.Other actors in his age range,includingDenzel Washington and Keanu Reeves, also cashed in on big action franchises such asThe EqualizerandJohn Wickin their later careers,notably both examples that resulted in sequels.
However, Neeson stuck withTakenas his only ongoing series, while everything else he did was a one-off action movie. AfterNon-Stop, he appeared in one moreTakenmovie, which grossed $327 million on a budget of $48 million. Neeson’s other one-and-done action thrillers began to drop in their box office intake, with 2024’sAbsolutionin particular only making $4.2 million.
There is a chance thatfollowing a popular movie likeNon-Stopwith a sequel could have set Neeson up for more success than trying to take on new, original stories,with the audience having no preexisting investment in them. Meanwhile,Non-Stopbecame a hit again on Netflixin 2025, proving its lasting appeal and possible audience interest in more content about Marks.
Furthermore, Idris Elba had a similar role in 2023, albeit in a streaming series calledHijack onApple TV+. Just like inNon-Stop, the main character is aboard a plane and has to deal with a hijacking and terrorists. Unlike Neeson, Elba didn’t shy away from doing more, and a second season is in the works. Thus, multiple similar series illustrate thatthe story potential didn’t end afterNon-Stop; it easily could have seen another movie.
Why Non-Stop 2 Is Highly Unlikely To Happen Now
Neeson Plans To Stop Acting In Action Thrillers
While aNon-Stopsequel sounds great, especially to people only discovering the film this year, it isn’t likely to happen now, asNeeson has said he is planning to retire from making action movies. When discussing his roles,Neeson admitted his age was a determining factor, and he didn’t want to leave it up to his stuntman, Mark Vanselow:
I’m 72 — it has to stop at some stage. You can’t fool audiences. I don’t want Mark to be fighting my fight scenes for me.
Neeson then said he had a timeline for discontinuing his roles as different action-thriller leading men. According to the actor, he feels that sometime at the end of 2025, he will stop taking roles in action movies. This means thatturning something likeNon-Stopinto an action thriller franchise for Neeson is not going to happen now.
Interestingly, Neeson is 72 years old, and he feels that this is the age at which he can no longer keep up in such movies. Denzel Washington is 70, and he has also been discussing retirement in his career. Keanu Reeves is only 60, so he likely has more years ahead of him for roles like his lead one in theJohn Wickfranchise. However, for Neeson, films likeNon-Stopare coming to an end.
