Pamela Anderson joins Liam Neeson's Naked Gun reboot

Man, imagine being a time traveler from the ‘90s right now; you might not even think your machine had worked at all. Last week, O.J. Simpson was front page news yet again when his family confirmed his death from cancer at 76 years old. Now, Pamela Anderson—another icon of the era—is stepping into an upcoming reboot of The Naked Gun, Simpson’s one-time Hollywood franchise. And baggy jeans are back! The pendulum really has swung.

The Anderson news comes from Deadline, which reported today that the Barb Wire actor would be starring opposite Liam Neeson in the cop spoof from Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping and Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers director Akiva Schaffer. No plot details from the new installment have been revealed as of this writing (that might be another job for the time traveler, if they want to use their powers for no real good or evil at all), but Neeson will be playing Leslie Nielsen’s former protagonist, bumbling detective Frank Drebin, with Anderson as a love interest “akin to the role played in the original by Priscilla Presley, with a mix of sexiness and goofiness” (per The Hollywood Reporter). Schaffer also co-wrote the screenplay for the film, along with his Chip ‘N Dale collaborators Doug Mand and Dan Gregor.

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the Naked Gun franchise consisted of three films (directed by David Zucker and Peter Segal respectively), inspired by the short-lived 1982 television series, Police Squad! Because every old series legally requires a reboot now, Baywatch—Anderon’s beach-set star-maker—is currently following a similar trajectory. Despite pretty bad reviews for the 2017 film reboot (also featuring Anderson), the franchise is pressing on with yet another new series, which was confirmed early last month. All of this is to say: get used to the presence of Naked Gun. Even if this movie is kind of a mess, the franchise isn’t likely to run out of bullets anytime soon.