“They love me in Beverly Hills,” Axel Foley declares confidently in the new trailer for the fourth installment of Beverly Hills Cop, and it’s true. People still love Eddie Murphy, and they love Beverly Hills Cop. So it only makes sense for the comedian to return to his old stomping ground, though this time at a new home: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is coming in summer 2024 on Netflix.
The new trailer leans into old rhythms, bringing back familiar friends as well as introducing new faces. “Detective Axel Foley (Murphy) is back on the beat in Beverly Hills,” reads the streamer’s synopsis for the film. “After his daughter Jane’s (Taylour Paige) life is threatened, she and Foley team up with a new partner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and old pals Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Taggart (John Ashton) to turn up the heat and uncover a conspiracy.”
Paul Reiser also returns as Jeffrey Friedman, who’s checking in on Axel from Detroit, while in California he’ll have to contend with Captain Cade Grant, played by Kevin Bacon. Gordon-Leavitt, meanwhile, seems to be an enthusiastic new partner for Murphy, posting on Twitter/X ahead of the teaser, “I’ve played a Gotham cop, a NOLA cop, now a Beverly Hills Cop opposite this GOAT.”
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F lands on Netflix almost exactly 40 years after the premiere of the original film, but Murphy “still has the twinkle in his eye” that brings Axel to life, as producer Jerry Bruckheimer tells the streamer’s site Tudum. Plus, Beverly Hills still has enough shine to make Axel’s return feel fresh, even if he’s experienced it a few times now, director Mark Molloy assures. “As we were scouting going from Detroit to Beverly Hills, the cultural contrast that made Axel a fish out of water in the eighties still is so vivid. They might just be the two most opposite places in America,” he says.
And then of course there’s the fact that Eddie Murphy is a living comedic legend. “Some of the funniest moments in Axel F are when Eddie’s improvising,” Molloy shares. “For me, a big part of my job was to create the right environment, cast the right people around Eddie to allow him to do what he does best.”