NBC won’t literally be Taken off the air – if you can or cannot understand the meaning -, but the network has renewed the spy/thriller drama for a second season of 16 episodes … with a twist.
According to TVGuide.com via Deadline, series developer Alex Cary has ‘Taken’ himself off as both showrunner and executive producer, as the show is set to be rebooted for the new season as more of a procedural drama. The hunt for a new showrunner is beginning, yet it remains to be clear whether Taken will be on the fall 2017 schedule or be slated for mid-season.
A prequel of the global blockbuster film franchise starring Liam Neeson, Taken follows the origins of Bryan Mills, the ex-spy who used his ‘particular set of skills’ to rescue his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) from sex traffickers, protect him and her mother Lenore (Famke Janssen) from vengeful mobsters, and avoid the police when Mills went on the run to find out who framed him for his ex-wife’s murder as well as protect Kim at the same time. The prequel stars Clive Standen as Mills, a former Green Beret who is wired to protect others as the newest member of an emergency response action team led by Christina Hart (Jennifer Beals), who personally recruited Mills, who’s on a personal mission to avenge the death of his sister against the head of a drug cartel. This will lead him on the hero’s journey to develop those ‘particular set of skills’ that will soon make Bryan Mills into every international bad guy’s nightmare.
Taken is executive produced by Luc Besson, who also wrote and directed the Taken films as well as The Transporter film franchise starring Jason Statham as former Special Forces operative turned professional courier-for-hire Frank Martin. Like Taken, The Transporter became a television series that lasted two seasons with Chris Vance in the driver’s seat as Martin.
Maybe NBC can reboot Taken for season two as more of The Equalizer with Mills going solo in using those ‘particular set of skills’ of his as an avenger-for-hire: honoring the memory of his sister by helping those who can’t fight for themselves, righting the wrongs of victims who deserves justice against the corrupt and powerful.