Beverly Hills Cop 4 is a project that has been in the works for so long that it’s totally reasonable if swaths of fans gave up on the idea of it actually coming together. After 1994’s Beverly Hills Cop III, there was continued hope that the next sequel could get made, but the project got stuck in development hell for years with new filmmakers becoming attached and then departing when they couldn’t produce a script up to star Eddie Murphy’s standards. Being a fan has required a lot of patience… but now the movie is actually happening.
Directed by newcomer Mark Molloy and based on a script by Josh Appelbaum, Will Beall, and André Nemec, Netflix’s Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F has made it through production and is set to be released on Netflix on July 3, 2024. So who can we expect from the original movies to return and who are the newcomers joining the franchise? We’ve put together this of actors in the Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F cast for those looking forward to the upcoming 2024 movie, and we’ll start with the man playing the series’ eponymous hero.
Eddie Murphy (Axel Foley)
In 2021, Eddie Murphy brought back some of his most beloved characters in Coming 2 America, and he’s following it up by returning to the world of Beverly Hills Cop as Axel Foley this upcoming Netflix movie. This fourth installment will be the SNL legend’s latest in a string of streaming exclusives, including Netflix’s You People and Amazon’s Candy Cane Lane. A THR exclusive from May 2023 says Murphy was in talks to star in a Pink Panther reboot, Deadline reports he will star alongside Pete Davidson in Tim Story’s The Pickup for Amazon MGM Studios, and, according Variety, a fifth Shrek movie may be in the works, too.
Judge Reinhold (Billy Rosewood)
When we first met Judge Reinhold’s Billy Rosewood in the original Beverly Hills Cop, he was a fresh police officer still learning the ropes and Axel Foley ended up taking him under his wing. After that, Reinhold became the only actor other than Murphy to appear in all of the sequels and he will be keeping that streak going with the return of Billy in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. It’s been a minute since we last saw the Fast Times At Ridgemont High star in a movie, as his most recent credits were back in 2017 – including Lifetime’s holiday rom-com Four Christmases and a Wedding – so it will be exciting to see him playing one of his most beloved roles again.
Bronson Pinchot (Serge)
Despite his Beverly Hills Cop II absence, Serge actor Bronson Pinchot is considered a staple of the action franchise, starting with his standout role in the original (then as a museum employee) and return in Beverly Hills Cop III as a gun store owner – a profession we are unsure he will have in the 2020s. Pinchot was confirmed to appear in Axel F while the movie was in production in September 2022, though we don’t know what to expect from his role. In recent years, the actor – who took up household restoration for a while – as been primarily working on television, with a recurring role on Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina and appearances in episodes of Black Monday, NCIS: Hawai’i, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and Max’s Our Flag Means Death.
Paul Reiser (Jeffrey Friedman)
Paul Reiser has been experiencing a nice career comeback in recent years, starting with his part as Dr. Sam Owens in the Stranger Things cast followed by The Kominsky Method, The Boys, and Hulu's Reboot cast, as well as the the 2019 revival of Mad About You. Now, he’s bringing back yet another memorable part in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F by reprising Jeffrey Friedman for the first time since the 1987 sequel. What has the character been up to in the last three-and-a-half decades? We have no idea, but we expect him to continue being a loyal ally to Murphy’s titular cop.
John Ashton (John Taggart)
John Ashton’s John Taggart was introduced as a semi-antagonist in the original Beverly Hills Cop, being a smart, talented detective who doesn’t have much patience for Foley’s antics. He ultimately learns to appreciate the protagonist for his drive and skills, and while he wasn’t part of the action in Beverly Hills Cop III, he’ll be back for the fun in Axel F, as confirmed in the fall of 2022. Ashton’s most recent credits include 2020’s Death In Texas with Bruce Dern, Stephen Lang, and Lara Flynn Boyle and the 2023 drama, Lonesome Soldier.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Detective Abbott)
The cast of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F isn’t solely comprised of stars from the original trilogy, and includes a handful of other fresh faces, such as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who said it was a “treat” playing Foley’s new partner, Detective Abbott. In the last few years, Gordon-Levitt has primarily been working on the small screen, having starred in Apple TV+’s Mr. Corman (which he also created) and Showtime’s Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber cast. Notably, however, the new Beverly Hills Cop will be his third Netflix original movie – following 2020’s Project Power and The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Taylour Paige (Jane)
In August 2022, the first two actors announced to star in the Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F cast opposite Eddie Murphy were JGL and Taylour Paige, who is playing Axel’s daughter, Jane. Since her breakout role as the titular character in 2021’s Zola, Paige has been busy on both the big and small screen, starring in Lena Dunham's Sharp Stick and Katie Aselton's Mack & Rita, as well as six episodes of the TV series, The Baxters. One of her other major upcoming releases, Magazine Dreams, has been removed from the schedule, but she will also appear in a new installment of another beloved '80s franchise: the upcoming superhero movie, The Toxic Avenger.
Kevin Bacon (Captain Cade Grant)
Despite the fact that they have both been in Hollywood for multiple decades, Kevin Bacon and Eddie Murphy have never had the opportunity to work together before, but that all changes with Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Bacon joined the cast of the Netflix-produced sequel in September 2022, and was later confirmed to be playing Captain Cade Grant, following his turn as a cop in the Showtime series City on a Hill from 2019 to 2022. The actor also recently played himself in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, starred in another Netflix original called Leave the World Behind, and also stars in the upcoming remake of The Toxic Avenger with Paige.
Be sure to have your Netflix subscription up and running for when Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F arrives.
