Everything we know about Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

*hums Axel Foley theme tune*

Bria Murphy as Officer Renee Minnick and Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
Eddie Murphy finally returns as Axel Foley in a new Beverly Hills Cop film. (Netflix)

After plenty of false starts, almost-sequels and a ditched TV series, Eddie Murphy finally returns to the force in Netflix’s Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, AKA Beverly Hills Cop 4.

To say that this one has been a long time coming is a bit of an understatement. Chatter about a fourth Beverly Hills Cop movie originally began in the late 1990s and has seen various names attached to its development in the years since.

Rush Hour director Brett Ratner came close to bringing the project to life in the early noughties before things fell apart and gears shifted into producing a Beverly Hills Cop TV series instead.

This small-screen adaptation would’ve featured Murphy but focused primarily on Foley’s on-screen son — but this take ultimately ground to a halt.

A few false starts later, a newly retooled Beverly Hills Cop 4 is finally out on Netflix under the new title Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.

What else do we know about it? Read on for its full rap sheet.

Eddie Murphy and Taylour Paige in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is coming soon to Netflix. (Netflix)

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is available to stream now on Netflix following its release on Wednesday, 3 July. Part four comes three decades after the previous entry in the series, 1994's Beverly Hills Cop III.

After extensive delays, filming took place in California and Detroit in 2022 with Australian filmmaker Mark Molloy at the helm.

Malloy replaced directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah who left the project after coming close to directing it themselves in order to focus on their Batgirl movie for Warner Bros. and DC Films, a project that was ultimately indefinitely shelved.

The official trailer for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is available to watch now. In it, we get a more detailed look at Axel Foley’s latest mission and the series of events that have led him back to Los Angeles.

We also see some of the series familiar faces back in action, including Paul Reiser’s Det. Jeffrey Friedman, Bronson Pinchot’s Serge, John Ashton’s Sgt. John Taggart and Judge Reinhold’s Lt. Billy Rosewood.

Watch it below:

The first teaser trailer for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F arrived in December 2023 and provided our first, action-packed glimpse at Murphy’s return to one of his most beloved movie roles.

The emphasis lays heavily on the ‘action-packed’ element too, as this short teaser provided a heady dose of car chases, crashes, gunshots and explosions, suggesting that the movie may be Foley’s most explosive outing yet.

Watch it below:

Beverly Hills Cop Axel F  Eddie Murphy
The fourquel is the first Beverly Hills Cop film since 1994. (Netflix)

As the first Beverly Hills Cop movie to be released since John Landis’ 1994 threequel, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F reunites the cop with some familiar colleagues and new faces as he tackles a brand new case.

As per Netflix, “Detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is back on the beat in Beverly Hills. After his daughter’s life is threatened, she (Taylour Paige) and Foley team up with a new partner (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and old pals Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) to turn up the heat and uncover a conspiracy.”

According to Empire, the movie focuses on “Foley’s criminal defense attorney daughter (Taylour Paige), who pulls her dad into a California-based case — where he’ll cause issues for Kevin Bacon’s LAPD special-unit officer, and team up with a new partner, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.”

Long-time sequel producer Jerry Bruckheimer said fans can expect Murphy to once again deliver some classic Beverly Hills Cop vibes.

“Anytime he walks on set, you never know what you’re going to get. And it’s always pretty brilliant,” he told the outlet. “Every day he’s there throws you back to the ‘80s.”

Action aside, he also promised that the film is unexpectedly heartfelt: “It’s about the emotion,” he added. “No matter how funny it is, how much great action it has, it’s all about the heartstrings.”

Kevin Bacon and Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
Kevin Bacon will star opposite Murphy. (Netflix)

Murphy is back as Axel Foley, complete with his iconic Detroit Lions jacket.

He’ls joined by Boogie actress Taylour Paige as his daughter and Kevin Bacon as an LAPD special-units officer that he must face off against.

Foley also gets a new partner for his latest case played by Joseph Gordon Levitt. "He gets stuck with Axel and they are hysterical together,” explains Bruckheimer of the pairing. “Joseph is such a great straight man for Eddie.”

Fans of the original trilogy will be pleased to learn that Reinhold’s Lt. Billy Rosewood and Reiser’s Det. Jeffrey Friedman are also back, alongside Ashton’s Sgt. John Taggart and Pinchot as the French art dealer-turned-weapons expert Serge.


Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is out now on Netflix.