Dust off those dodgy French accents and prepare for another dose of bumbling detective tomfoolery, as Chief Inspector Clouseau is heading back to the big screen but this time the format is a little different.

Peter Sellers’ famed portrayal of the character is still fondly cherished by many cinemagoers, Steve Martin’s remakes less so, but Variety broke the news that none other than former Beverly Hills Cop Eddie Murphy is in talks to don the hat, coat and moustache next.

The new rebooted Pink Panther film, rather than focusing on a starry slapstick crime caper story (like the original film) or police spoof centred around the central character (like the many sequels that followed), will instead opt – bizarrely – for the live-action/CG animation route, with a begrudging buddy cop-like story. 

As the supposed plot will see the Inspector team up with the titular Pink Panther (from the many film’s animated openings and the cartoon series) to solve a case. This would mark the Panther’s first ever appearance in the actual plot of one of the motion pictures.

It’s a different approach for sure, and the film is set to be helmed by Sonic The Hedgehog director Jeff Fowler, who helms a script by Aladdin scribes Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich. We’ll see how this one pans out, or whether Murphy is indeed the next one to take on the part.

Hopefully it’s not a bomb…of the exploding kind.