Netflix's upcoming Beverly Hills Cop sequel Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley has officially added three additional original cast members. The franchise began with the 1984 movie Beverly Hills Cop, which starred Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a Detroit cop who becomes a fish-out-of-water when he goes to Beverly Hills to try and solve the murder of his friend. The film was a substantial hit, making $316 million off a budget of $13 million and becoming the seventh highest-grossing film of the year. The original movie spawned a pair of sequels in 1987's Beverly Hills Cop II and 1994's Beverly Hills Cop III. The film was such a cultural phenomenon that its instrumental theme "Axel F" was even a hit, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., later becoming an Internet meme when it was covered by Crazy frog in 2005.
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Although various sequels to Beverly Hills Cop III had been announced and then scrapped in the intervening years, in November 2019 Paramount announced that they would be making Axel Foley for Netflix, bringing back Murphy as Foley. Although the plot of the film is still unknown, Paul Reiser will be set to return as Axel's partner Det. Jeffrey Friedman, opposite franchise newcomers Taylour Paige and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. A recent set photo from the film also seemed to reveal that Judge Reinhold and John Ashton would be returning to reprise their roles as Rosewood and Taggart.
Per Variety, the addition of three returning cast members to Axel Foley has been officially announced. First, this announcement officially confirms what those set photos revealed: Reinhold and Ashton are indeed returning as Rosewood and Taggart. However, they will also be joined by Bronson Pinchot returning as his character Serge. Pinchot is best known for his roles in films like True Romance and Risky Business.
Pinchot originated the role of Serge in the original Beverly Hills Cop, going on to reprise the role in Beverly Hills Cop III and the failed 2013 Beverly Hills Cop pilot starring Brandon T. Jackson as Axel Foley's son. Originally, Serge was a small character who appeared in just a few minutes of the original film as an art gallery salesman who Axel briefly encounters. However, he was a fan favorite character, and he returned in the third film in an expanded role, where it is revealed that he opened his own store called Serge's Survival Boutique.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley is well on its way to being a proper legacy sequel at this point. Although it has been nearly 30 years since the last entry was released, the fact that so many cast members have now agreed to return should delight fans of the original trilogy. Considering how they have been announcing returning cast members in waves, it's also entirely possible that more people will be returning that haven't been officially confirmed yet.