Liam Neeson is set to star in new thriller 'Charlie Johnson in the Flames'.

Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson

The 65-year-old actor - who saw his career rebooted in 2008 by action franchise 'Taken' - has signed up to the lead titular role in the action movie.

Neeson will star as Charlie Johnson, a BBC war correspondent covering civil disorder in the Congo, according to Deadline.

The death of an innocent woman sets him on a crusade to justice, which sees him caught up in murder, corruption and violence.

The film will be adapted from the Michael Ignatieff thriller novel and will be directed by Tarik Saleh, who helmed the 2017 award-winning indie hit 'The Nile Hilton Incident'.

Justin Haythe, who worked on Jennifer Lawrence's spy thriller 'Red Sparrow', has penned the script.

Neeson's films have made over $7 billion worldwide, and his latest action was 'The Commuter'.

The 'Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace' actor recently spoke at the Toronto International Film Festival to claim that cinema goers would soon stop to believe a man of his age would be able to pull off such death-defying feats.

He said: "The thrillers, that was all a pure accident. They're still throwing serious money at me to do that stuff ... Audiences are eventually going to go, 'Come on.' "

However, Neeson has now revealed that "it was a joke" but he is adamant he'll know when "enough is enough" in the action genre.

The 'Schindler's List' star said: "It was a joke but, of course, everyone picks up on that. I am aware of audiences looking at certain action stars and going, 'Oh, come on.' I know when enough is enough."