The Hangover star Ed Helms is set to take Leslie Nielsen's place in a revival of The Naked Gun franchise.

The funnyman will play moronic Detective Frank Drebin in the new film, which will be written by Night at the Museum scribes Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant, according to Variety.com.

The cop comedy was Nielsen's biggest hit, pulling in more than $217 million (£145 million) at the U.S. box office over three films in 1988, 1991 and 1994.

The star passed away in 2010, aged 84.