By Charlotte McLaughlin, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter

Taken actor Liam Neeson has revealed that he is considering retiring from starring in action movies next year.

The Co Antrim actor (72) is known for playing the tough protagonist in crime thrillers including in the three Taken movies, as well as Retribution and In The Land of Saints And Sinners, both released in 2023.

His upcoming films also include the thriller Hotel Tehran.

Neeson told People magazine: “I’m 72 — it has to stop at some stage.

“You can’t fool audiences. I don’t want [my Taken stunt double] Mark [Vanselow] to be fighting my fight scenes for me.”

The Oscar-nominated actor added: “Maybe the end of next year. I think that’s it.”

However, he seemed concerned about turning to comedy in a new reboot of The Naked Gun, based on the original franchise starring by Canadian actor and comedian Leslie Nielsen.

“Whether I can carry it or not, I honestly don’t know,” he said to the US publication.

Neeson will also play the staggeringly inept detective Lieutenant Frank Drebin (Nielsen) as the slapstick series is set to return in 2025 in a production directed by The Lonely Island member Akiva Schaffer.

The Ballymena-born actor has made more than 100 films and earned an Academy Award nomination for Schindler’s List, where he played the title character of factory owner Oskar Schindler who tried to save his Jewish employees during the Second World War.

Neeson also starred in 2023’s Marlowe, about a brooding, down-on-his-luck detective hired to find the former lover of a glamorous heiress in Los Angeles.

The role of detective Phillip Marlowe is based on the famous character created by American-British author Raymond Chandler.