Los Angeles, May 23 (IANS): Actor Liam Neeson is in negotiations to join actor Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson in "Men in Black" spin-off.

Filmmaker F. Gary Gray is directing the project, written by "Iron Man" screenwriters Matt Holloway and Art Marcum. Sony studio has the film dated for a June 14, 2019 release, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

Hemsworth and Thompson are not playing the same alien-fighting and world-saving characters portrayed by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in the initial film trilogy. The new movie is set in the same on-screen world, however.

Plot details and the characters Hemsworth and Thompson will portray are being kept secret, but on the Neeson front, it is known that he will play the head of the Men in Black organization in London, where the story begins.

Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, who produced the original movies, are back as producers, while Steven Spielberg is returning as executive producer.