Liam Neeson to retire from action films at the end of 2025

Hollywood star Liam Neeson, who gained the action icon title with the blockbuster Taken franchise, has talked about his retirement from the genre by the end of next year.

After his action movie breakthrough in 2008 with Taken, Neeson went on to headline many movies in the nail-biting genre. He was front and centre for two Taken sequels and also fought like hell in action films such as Unknown (2011), The Grey (2012), Non-Stop (2014), Run All Night (2015), The Commuter (2018), The Ice Road (2021) and more.

Neeson continues to perform his own fight scenes even in his 70s, with a little help from longtime stunt collaborator and friend Mark Vanselow. “I’m 72 — it has to stop at some stage,” Neeson told a leading publication. “You can’t fool audiences. I don’t want Mark to be fighting my fight scenes for me,” he added.

Neeson has not yet set a specific date for his last action movie role, he did say that it will likely be in 2025, adding, “Maybe the end of next year. I think that’s it.”

Neeson’s latest action project, Absolution, arrives in November and reunites him with his Cold Pursuit director Hans Petter Moland.

“When he’s immersed in the character he is, you see the hurt, you see the pain,” Moland told People about what makes Neeson such an enduring action hero. “He becomes that man.”

While Neeson is eyeing a retirement from action movies sometime in 2025, he’s continuing to film them for the time being. He was cast earlier this year opposite Zachary Levi in the Hotel Tehran, a new action-thriller from Guy Moshe.