Everything you need to remember from the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise before seeing “Axel F”

It's been 40 years since Axel Foley was introduced to the world, so here's a little re-introduction before "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F."

Eddie Murphy first portrayed streetwise Detroit detective Axel Foley in 1984, when he was just 23. Beverly Hills Cop became an instant hit, propelling the Saturday Night Live standout to superstardom and, naturally, spawning a couple sequels.

The fourth installment of the franchise, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (out now on Netflix), picks up 30 years after 1994's Beverly Hills Cop III. Foley is still a detective in Detroit, but he's older, questionably wiser, and also... he's a father. Albeit, not a very good one. His daughter, Jane Saunders, not only refuses to take his last name but also has no interest in talking to or seeing him. That is until an attempt on her life brings Papa Axel rolling like a stone into his familiar Beverly Hills.

Before diving back into the world of car chases, well-timed puns, and highly destructive cop shenanigans, get a little refresher on Foley and co.

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Where are Rosewood and Taggert?

John Ashton and Judge Reinhold first appeared in the OG BHC as Foley's foils and eventual friends, Sgt. John Taggert and Det. Billy Rosewood, respectively. Ashton sat out the universally maligned third film, but he's back for Axel F, along with Reinhold, still cutting up in a squad car.

Who's Axel's daughter?

Zola's Taylour Paige plays Jane, a new character introduced in Axel F. Foley's last love interest in BHCIII was Janice Perkins (Theresa Randle), an employee at the fictional Beverly Hills theme park Wonder World, a major backdrop in the third film. Axel and Janice get together in the end, but she's nowhere to be found in Axel F. Nor do we ever meet Jane's mother.

What about Axel's son?

Remember Aaron Foley? Of course, you don't. Aaron, played by Brandon T. Jackson, was the subject of the unaired Beverly Hills Cop CBS pilot from 2013. CBS decided to pass on the series, with Murphy claiming that his appearance in the pilot doomed the show. He told Playboy in 2015, "I was gonna be in the pilot, and they thought I should be recurring. I’m not gonna do Beverly Hills Cop on TV. I remember when they tested it — they had this little knob that you turn if you like it or you don’t like it. So when Axel shows up in the pilot, some people turned the knob so much, they broke it. So the network decided if he isn’t recurring, then this isn’t gonna happen. So it didn’t happen."

Related: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F director says Eddie Murphy improvised 'the funniest moments'

Who else is back from the original films?

Paul Reiser reprises his role as Det. Jeffrey Friedman, who was Axel's partner in the first two films and (wisely) opted out of the third. In Axel F, Friedman is now Axel's boss, though good luck trying to tell Axel Foley what to do. Bronson Pinchot committed scene robbery in the first BHC film as the flamboyant Serge, a former art gallery salesman turned weapons dealer, only to miss out on the sequel and then return for the third film. Now he's back again and blond as the day is long, helping Axel out for old-time's sake.

Related: Bronson Pinchot recalls receiving death threat at the height of Beverly Hills Cop fame: 'Who's ready for that?'

Who are the new characters?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt enters the franchise as Det. Bobby Abbott, Jane's ex-boyfriend who becomes Axel's unwilling partner. Kevin Bacon, meanwhile, plays [non-spoiler alert] the corrupt police captain Cade Grant. Bacon called working with Murphy a "bucket list" moment, telling PEOPLE, "He is one of our greatest movie stars ever. Our paths never crossed in the '80s. We never worked together. I don't remember even having met him — I'm sure we probably did, but I don't remember.”

Is the third film really that bad?

Yes. Yes, it is. And Murphy recently explained why that is. "The reason Beverly Hills Cop III was soft was because Taggart's not in the movie, and the villain isn't villainous enough, and Axel didn't have any skin in the game," the actor told Screenrant. "The first movie, Axel's best friend is killed. And the second one, his boss, the Chief, gets killed. And then in the third one, Uncle Dave is in trouble. That's what the movie's about." Well, the stakes are certainly higher this go-around and Axel's latent paternal instincts finally kick in to save his daughter and their relationship. In fact, Axel F is a bit of a family affair with Murphy's real-life daughter playing a cop who arrests him in the film. An experience he called "surreal."

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