Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Naked Gun!After more than thirty years, The Naked Gun is back on the big screen, and the new reboot has plenty of surprises in store for audiences. Directed by Akiva Schaffer, the movie stars Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr., the son of Leslie Nielsen’s iconic detective from the original series and movies. He gets involved with a murder case that’s more complex than it appears.
Just like the classic Naked Gun movies, the reboot features countless irreverent, silly jokes and references to everything from the Black Eyed Peas to Bill Cosby. The tongue-in-cheek humor is very much in line with its predecessors, with Schaffer smartly walking the line between honoring what came before and crafting something new.
As is common practice with reboots and long-awaited sequels these days, The Naked Gun features a few celebrity cameos. For example, real-life MMA commentators Jon Anik and Michael Bisping make appearances as themselves during the movie’s climactic New Year’s Eve fight, a clever Easter egg for fans of the sport. The biggest cameos, though, hold even deeper connections to the franchise.
Weird Al Yankovic Returns To The Naked Gun Franchise For Another Cameo
This Recurring Gag Hasn’t Been Forgotten
Fan-favorite musician Weird Al Yankovic, best known for his parody songs and comedic acts, returns to the Naked Gun franchise for the fourth time with this new movie. Yankovic previously made cameos in all three of Nielsen’s movies; in the first and third movies, he played himself, and in the second, he was a criminal briefly shown holding the other officers at gunpoint.
In the 2025 Naked Gun, he gets his biggest role yet, once again as himself. Part of tech villain Richard Cane’s (Danny Huston) grand plan to destroy and remake society involves putting the world’s billionaires in a special underground bunker, where Yankovic has been hired to perform for them all.
He pops up during Cane’s presentation, and then returns for a gag at the end of the credits when it’s revealed he was left alone in the bunker, even though Cane’s plan failed. Like the nods to Nielsen and previous Naked Gun characters, Yankovic’s cameo is a clever callback to the original movies, one that fits with the franchise’s absurd humor.
Original Naked Gun Star Priscilla Presley Cameos In The Reboot
Presley’s Scene Is Brief, But Impactful
In a brief, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, original franchise star Priscilla Presley returns for the new Naked Gun. She appeared in all three classic movies as Jane Spencer, Frank Drebin’s love interest and eventual wife. She played a key role throughout the trilogy, helping Frank with his various cases as they fell in and out (and back in again) of love.
In her first film role since the third Naked Gun, Presley can be seen during the New Year’s Eve MMA fight as Neeson’s Frank Jr. sparks headlines for his bumbling attempts to stop Cane’s P.L.O.T. Device. The movie cuts to various people watching the news at home, and one of them is Presley. Though her scene is quick, she is listed in the credits as playing Jane.
This also, essentially, means Presley is playing Frank Jr.’s mother. At the end of Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, Jane gives birth to a baby boy. Now, the timing of this doesn’t quite work, seeing as that movie takes place in 1994 and thus would suggest her son is only in his 30s now, but considering the ridiculousness of the whole franchise, that inconsistency can be waved away.
Neeson is currently 73 years old, only seven years younger than Presley.
Presley’s appearance in the new Naked Gun is a subtle tribute to the franchise’s history and the part she played in creating it. In fact, if the reboot turns into a proper series of its own, she could get a larger role in future installments that cements her place as Frank Jr.’s mother.
Dave Bautista Has A Hilarious Cameo In The Naked Gun Too
He Has A Behind-The-Scenes Connection To The Movie
Perhaps the most random cameo in The Naked Gun is Guardians of the Galaxy and Dune star Dave Bautista. The former wrestler has built an impressive acting career, challenging himself with a variety of roles across different genres. In this movie, he cameos as himself in a hilarious moment that pokes fun at his prowess as an action hero.
Right at the height of Frank’s final confrontation with Cane—quite literally mid-monologue—Neeson’s detective is abruptly replaced by Bautista, who continues delivering Frank’s impᴀssioned rant against the villain. Turns out, Frank needed a quick bathroom break, and Bautista was all too happy to step in.
Bautista’s inclusion in the movie seems surprising on the surface, but there’s a behind-the-scenes connection that makes it quite sweet. Just last year, he starred in The Last Showgirl alongside Pamela Anderson, who has a large role in The Naked Gun as Beth Davenport, Frank’s love interest.
His Last Showgirl character, Eddie, has a poignant relationship with Anderson’s, and Bautista publicly praised her performance. It seems likely that their connection on that project led to Bautista joining The Naked Gun; The Last Showgirl was filmed mere months before the reboot began production.
Of course, since Bautista’s Naked Gun cameo was kept a secret ahead of time, this is only speculation for now. Regardless of how it came about, it’s a fun joke that fits in perfectly with this franchise’s send-up of classic action movie tropes.
