Mark your calendars for the return of Axel Foley

Axel Foley’s long-awaited return is imminent. On Thursday, Netflix released its full film slate for 2024, including Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. The action-comedy, which follows Axel (Eddie Murphy) back to Beverly Hills after his daughter’s (Taylour Paige) life is threatened, will premiere on the streamer on July 3. Returning alongside Murphy are Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot, whose character Serge is seen in a new image from the film (above) giving Murphy a ride with newbies Paige and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Axel Foley is the latest iconic character Murphy has returned to in recent years, after reprising his role as Prince Akeem (among many others) in Coming 2 America in 2021. A fourth installment of the Beverly Hills Cop franchise has been a long time coming, as the actor told Collider last year. “We tried for years and years, maybe 10, 12 years. And I must have read five or six different scripts, and it was never right,” he shared.

What got Axel F off the ground was the involvement of original producer Jerry Bruckheimer, according to Murphy: “When he got involved and he started developing the script, and he knew what Beverly Hills Cop is supposed to be, when he got back involved that’s when it all started to come together.” He went on, “Jerry Bruckheimer got back in there and he knows his shit. And he put it together…. He put all the pieces in place that were required for us to make a great movie. I’m really excited for people to see it.”

That being said, the movie was “really hard to make. Because Axel Foley is 21, and I’m not 21,” Murphy laughed. “It’s a really physical movie and I had to do some physical stuff…. I like to be on the couch, I don’t like to be jumping over and shooting and running. And I had to do some jumping and shooting and running. And as a result… at the end of the movie, I had a knee brace and my back is messed up. But the movie is gonna be special.”