Eddie Murphy is bringing back one of his most beloved characters.
On Dec. 14, Netflix shared the first trailer for the upcoming fourth “Beverly Hills Cop” movie, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley." In the new flick, Murphy reprises his role as the wise-cracking Detroit police detective who wreaks havoc when he visits plush Beverly Hills.
The trailer opens with a character played by Kevin Bacon (new to the franchise) marveling how Foley is still on the streets. Fans will likely delight in seeing images of Foley's signature Detroit Lions jacket and hearing a modern take on the franchise's "Axel F" theme.
In one moment, the character Jeffrey Friedman, who fans will remember from the first two films as a fellow cop played by Paul Reiser, appears, reminding Foley to be careful.
"I'm gonna be fine. They love me in Beverly Hills," Foley replies.
The real highlight, though, comes at the end of the trailer when Foley sits in the backseat of a car with the duo of Taggart (John Ashton) and Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), who played Beverly Hills police detectives in the first two movies.
"So, how many people have you pissed off so far?" Taggart asks.
"I haven't pissed off anybody!" Foley responds.
"Fifty-fifty," Rosewood chimes in.
"Is it that high?" Foley asks in surprise.
The movie will be available to stream on Netflix in summer 2024, although no specific date has been revealed.
On Nov. 21, Netflix shared an image of the Oscar-nominated star reprising his role as Foley in the movie.
“He’s back. Axel Foley returns in 2024!” the streaming service captioned a photo on X of Murphy wearing his character’s Detroit Lions jacket while his hands are in the air, as police officers surround him and a crowd looks on. It appears as if Murphy is in an overturned vehicle, while a Ralph Lauren store is in the distance behind him.
Netflix revealed in 2022 that Murphy would reunite with original “Beverly Hills Cop” stars Reinhold, Ashton, Reiser and Bronson Pinchot for a new installment in the series, alongside newcomers, Bacon, Gordon-Levitt and Taylour Paige.
Murphy says a lot of time has passed since he made the original “Beverly Hills Cop,” a fact he felt while shooting this new effort.
“It was a hard one,” Murphy, 62, told People last month. “I did Axel Foley when I was in my 20s. I am not in my 20s anymore.”
“It was an action movie. So it was a rough one. But we got through it,” he added.
“Beverly Hills Cop” came out in 1984 and, along with his roles in “48 Hrs.” and “Trading Places,” helped establish Murphy as a comedy superstar, following his breakthrough work on “Saturday Night Live.”
Murphy again played Axel Foley in 1987’s “Beverly Hills Cop II” and 1994’s “Beverly Hills Cop III.” A fourth film was discussed for years.
“They’ve been trying to get ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ together for 10 years, but the script has to be right,” he told TODAY’s Al Roker in 2021 while discussing the release of another long-awaited sequel of his, “Coming 2 America.”
“I told you guys, I’m not doing any more money grabs. I’m not doing any more movies that’s like, ‘He clearly just did this movie for a check.’ I’m not doing any of those.”
Murphy has also said the fourth film came together once a key figure from the first one signed on.
“Jerry Bruckheimer, the original producer, when he got involved and he started developing the script, and he knew what ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ is supposed to be — when he got back involved, that’s when it all started to come together,” he told Collider in January.
“He put all the pieces in place that were required for us to make a great movie. I’m excited for people to see it,” he added.