The Pink Panther Edwards tried again to revive the series, this time by casting Roberto Benigni as Gendarme Jacques Gambrelli, Inspector Clouseau's illegitimate son by Maria Gambrelli, the murder suspect from "A Shot in the Dark." Once again, many former Panther co-stars return – Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk, and Graham Stark, and a star of the original 1963 film, Claudia Cardinale. Although intended to relaunch the series with a new lovable inept hero, "Son" failed critically and commercially and became the final installment in the original Pink Panther series. This reboot launches a new series starring Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau and Kevin
Son of the Pink Panther Panther films. Gambrelli closes the film with the line: "That felt good!" following by the image of Gambrelli freezing as the animated Pink Panther walks across the still of Jacques, until an animated Gambrelli suddenly cuts away the head of live-action Gambrelli and pops out of the hole, dropping the head on the Panther's foot; the enraged Panther chases him into fading blackness. Note: Claudia Cardinale played the Princess in the original "Pink Panther" film. Here she returns as Maria Gambrelli, the part originally played by Elke Sommer in "A Shot in the Dark". This was the first "Pink Panther"