Liam Neeson gets $20M deal for 'Taken 3'

Actor Liam Neeson is reportedly closing a $20 million deal to reprise his role in a third film as Bryan Mills, a retired CIA agent who goes after thugs in order to protect his family.

The first "Taken" film made Neeson, now 61, a surprise action hero when it came out in 2008. In the movie, Nesson's character used his "particular set of skills" to track down and take revenge on those who kidnapped his daughter in France to sell her into sex slavery.

Neeson was reluctant to film a sequel, and earned in the neighborhood of $15 million for "Taken 2." The sequel cost around $45 million and grossed more than $376 million, and improvement on the first film, which cost $25 million and grossed more than $226 million.

Now that 20th Century Fox and Luc Besson's EuropaCorp production company have secured Neeson, they will have to court Maggie Grace, who plays Mills's daughter, and Famke Janssen who plays his ex-wife, though the pair reconciled in the second film.

A script by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen is ready, and although there is no director yet, Deadline reports that "Taken 2" director Olivier Megaton may return. Production on the third installment in the trifecta is expected to begin in 2014.