Liam Neeson announces retirement from action films

Liam Neeson has vowed to stop making action films - and confirmed he is retiring from the genre.

The Irish actor has been appearing on screens since his 1978 debut and has appeared in huge franchises including Star Wars and Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.

He has also won a legion of fans for his nail-biting performance as Bryan Mills in the adrenaline fuelled action series Taken - which saw the first outing release in 2008, followed by two sequels in 2012 and 2014.

But now he has signalled he is stepping away from the action genre as he eases in to his older years.

He told People, "I'm 72 - it has to stop at some stage. You can't fool audiences. I don't want (longtime stunt collaborator) Mark Vanselow to be fighting my fight scenes for me."

He went on to signal that he might have one or two final action films to get under his belt before the end of 2025, saying, "Maybe the end of next year. I think that's it."

Neeson famously performed his own fight choreography in the 2008 movie Taken - with his double stepping in for the more daring scenes.

He told EW in 2019 that he didn't anticipate the film series - which has made over $929 million (£719) at the box office - being a success.

The star said, "I never focused on, 'Oh, I'd love to do action movies.' It wasn't really on my periphery. I read it and just thought, 'This would be great; just hang out with stuntmen every day and beat guys up.' I did think it would be straight-to-video, and that was no problem."