Liam Neeson has been in several big movie franchises over his career. He most recently appeared in The Naked Gun, taking on the lead role that the esteemed Leslie Nielsen once held. However, while he has only appeared in one movie in that franchise so far, he has several other franchises in which he has repeated roles.
In 2025, Neeson came back in one of his action movie roles, with a sequel to The Ice Road. While that wasn’t one of his more recognized movie roles, it allowed him to step into a familiar role, and Ice Road: Vengeance has since begun trending on Netflix as one of its most-watched new releases. That is also only the start.
Neeson has been in some major franchises, including one of the biggest of all time in the Star Wars universe, one that was a surprise animated hit, and another based on classical Greek mythology. These are his franchise roles, but only those where he appeared in more than one movie are listed, so Darkman is not included.
Clash Of The Titans (2010-2012)
Liam Neeson joined the cast of the Clash of the Titans franchise in 2010 and starred in two movies in the series, including the sequel Wrath of the Titans. Neeson got the prime role of Zeus, the King of the Greek Gods. In this series, he created man, but he has become disappointed with their lack of respect.
While this had the potential to become a massively popular franchise thanks to its mythology and big budget, it ultimately ended up as a huge disappointment. The first movie was a slight financial success, but the sequel barely recouped its budget and costs, ultimately ending the franchise.
Both movies were critical failures, with the sequel only getting a 26% Rotten Tomatoes score, and even the audience left disappointed, with only a 49% approval rating. Sadly, even Neeson took a beating here, receiving a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actor.
The Ice Road (2021-2025)
The Ice Road was a 2021 Liam Neeson action movie in which he played Mike McCann, an Iraq War veteran suffering from PTSD and aphasia, who takes a job as an ice road trucker in Winnipeg. He is then part of a group heading out for a rescue mission in a movie that is a slight remake of the 1953 film, The Wages of Fear.
The Ice Road had a small box office take of $7.5 million and was released on Netflix, where it became a streaming hit. This led to Netflix signing Neeson on for a sequel that ended up as a Netflix exclusive, where Mike returned, while grappling with survivor’s guilt after the death of his brother in the last movie.
It was a nice role for Neeson, but it was also a surprising movie franchise based on its streaming success, rather than its theatrical success. Neither movie received great reviews, but for anyone looking for a Liam Neeson action movie, there are worse options.
The Nut Job (2014-2017)
Liam Neeson has a very recognizable voice, which makes him an ideal choice to lend his voice to animated movie roles. One of these animated franchises was The Nut Job, which saw Neeson voice a character in movies in 2014 and 2017. Neeson voiced Raccoon, the self-proclaimed con-artist and antagonist in the first film.
It was fun hearing Neeson voice this villain, who banishes the hero (Surly) from the park and then shows his power-hungry attitude, almost destroying the entire park community for all the animals there. The first film then ended with Raccoon plotting revenge for his defeat.
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature was much less positively received compared to the original film. While the first film made it look like Raccoon was returning for vengeance, that didn’t happen, and the sequel had new villains. Even more disappointing, Neeson only appeared on the DVD in deleted scenes.
Star Wars (1999)
In 1999, Liam Neeson proved to the world that he could do something no one expected before. He took on a significant action role. Neeson played Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace. After this, Neeson soon transitioned into the role of one of Hollywood’s most successful action stars.
While Qui-Gon died in the first movie at the hands of Darth Maul, leaving Obi-Wan Kenobi alone to help train young Anakin Skywalker, he didn’t finish his Star Wars role there. Instead, Qui-Gon, as with other Jedi, returned as a Force Ghost in later movies in the prequel series.
In all, Neeson had roles in The Phantom Menace and The Clone Wars while also returning for a voice cameo in The Rise of Skywalker. He also had voice roles in three episodes of The Clone Wars, a cameo in Obi-Wan Kenobi, and a voice role in Tales of the Jedi.
The Chronicles of Narnia (2005-2012)
Liam Neeson had a voice role in a live-action fantasy movie franchise as well. He voiced the godly lion Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia trilogy. Neeson took on the role in all three movies, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Aslan was one of the main characters in the novel series by C.S. Lewis, a talking lion who was the King of Beasts and the King above all High Kings in Narnia. In the religious symbolism of the series, he symbolizes Jesus Christ. This was also one of the most successful franchises that Neeson took part in.
The Chronicles of Narnia trilogy made an impressive $1.5 billion on a $560 million budget, although almost half of that box office came with the first movie. The third movie dropped in quality and box office and marked the end of the franchise, but it remains one that many fans hold close to their hearts.
Taken (2008-2014)
Taken is, easily, the most successful franchise that Liam Neeson was in, where he was the main leading character. Neeson stars as Bryan Mills, an ex-Green Beret and CIA officer whose family finds themselves in danger. The first movie of the series was the best, and it remains a masterpiece of action cinema.
In that initial film, someone kidnaps his daughter to sell her into slavery, without realizing that they signed their own death warrants with the action. Bryan then sets out and kills everyone involved until he eventually finds and saves his daughter. The other movies follow a very similar format, which even Neeson said grew old.
That didn’t stop fans from turning out to see Neeson showing why Bryan Mills is the best at what he does. The trilogy made $932.4 million on a $118 million budget, huge numbers for movies in the action genre. It even spawned a TV series that Neeson was not a part of.
Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012)
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy is similar to Star Wars for Liam Neeson. His character, the villain Ra’s al Ghul, died in his first appearance in Batman Begins. However, thanks to flashbacks and other storytelling devices, he returned for the sequels as well.
Neeson appeared in Batman Begins as the terrorist Ra’s Al Ghul, a man who wanted to bring Gotham City to its knees to cripple the wealthy and powerful and take control of everything himself. He then returned in a cameo in The Dark Knight Rises, where one of the villains was his daughter.
This was easily the biggest franchise he was involved in, even more so than the Star Wars prequels. Both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises broke $1 billion at the box office, and these are comic book adaptations that many fans say rise above the genre as true cinematic masterpieces.
The LEGO Movie (2014-2019)
The best movie franchise that Liam Neeson was involved in is arguably The LEGO Movie. This was a shockingly good movie franchise that could have been just another toy sale grab, but ended up as something a lot more. It was a smart story about growing up and what it means to still hold onto your childhood.
Liam Neeson took on the role of Good Cop/Bad Cop, which was a great character that allowed the actor to have a lot of fun, both connecting with Emmet (Chris Pratt) and with Lord Business (Will Ferrell). The character also had a much deeper story than expected.
The character could have been a one-note comedy act, but when his parents were brought into the story by Lord Business, it took on a more tragic tone, and he became much more interesting than many other characters in the films.
Sadly, the role of Good Cop/Bad Cop was lessened in the sequel, and Liam Neeson only had a small appearance, although he was still part of the story. Regardless, The LEGO Movie proved to be a huge success, both commercially and critically.
The first film made $470 million, and The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part made $200 million in a steep dropoff. The first LEGO Movie also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Feature Film.