We watched the first one through gritted teeth, suffered through the second one and now it appears that Liam Neeson’s $20 million paycheck has enticed him to continue into unnecessary sequel territory. If you haven’t guessed, we’re talking about Taken 3 and the fact that not Neeson will return as the admirable-yet-terrifying former CIA agent Bryan Mills.

Liam Neeson, A Walk Among The Tombstones Set
Liam Neeson will be back with a vengeance, literally.

According to a report by Deadline, not only is Neeson returning, but the script is once again in the hands of Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, which means that it could go either way –while their first effort was a tense psychological action/thriller with some torture scenes, Taken 2 was just pure torture. So for the third one, let’s hope the team have learned from past mistakes. According to the report, the studio – Europa Corp. - is planning to reunite the old team. Now that Neeson has been secured with the 33% increase on his paycheck for the second one, actresses Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen are the studio’s next targets. Grace and Janssen played Mills’ daughter and ex-wife, respectively.

The director, on the other hand, is still a wild card. While the first film was directed by Pierre Morel and cost about $25 million, while the second one was handed over to Olivier Megaton (best surname we’ve heard all week) and made for the not-so-modest sum of $45 million. With Neeson’s acting salary having reached the $20 million mark, however, it would come as no surprise, if Taken 3 manages to break even that record.

Liam Neeson, New York City
Also with $20 million in his pocket.

Liam Neeson, Battleship Premiere
That's a lot of motivation.