Fox doubles down on lifeguard dramas with a big storyline and penalty commitment to Baywatch, a reboot of the classic beach series. The new iteration is a co-production between Fremantle and Fox Entertainment.
Deadline revealed exclusively last April that Fremantle was working on a Baywatch redo. At the time, Fox had already started conversations with the independent studio for the potential series while also developing another lifeguard drama franchise, Rescue: HI-Surf, from John Wells Prods. The latter, a co-production between Warner Bros. TV and Fox Entertainment, was then collected in series for the 2023-24 season; it is now on track for a fall 2024 launch due to strike-related delays.
Meanwhile, Fox remained interested in Baywatchpotentially as a summer series.
The new “action-packed” Baywatch reboot is written by Lara Olsen who will serve as showrunner. In it, the daring sea rescues, pristine beaches and iconic red swimsuits return, along with a whole new generation of Baywatch lifeguards, who lead complicated and messy personal lives.
Olsen's director produces with Baywatch creators Michael Berk, Greg Bonann and Doug Schwartz.
The original series, which made David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson international stars, followed a group of lifeguards who patrolled the beaches of Los Angeles County. Originally produced for NBC by Gannett, the series premiered in the fall of 1989 and was canceled by the network after one season.
However, the Baywatch the producers bought back the rights and produced a syndicated version through All American Television with the help of financing from German distributor Beta Taurus, part of the Kirch Group in Germany and ITV.
Baywatch, which starred Hasselhoff, Anderson, David Charvet, Yasmine Bleeth and Nicole Eggert, among others, then ran for 10 more seasons, including a move to Hawaii for later seasons, becoming one of the most watched shows in the world . This gave rise to the Baywatch evenings the fallout and Baywatch: Hawaiian weddinga two-hour reunion film that aired on Fox, as well as the 2017 feature film starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.
Fremantle owned the rights to the show after All American Television became part of Pearson, which became Fremantle. Beta held international distribution rights before Fremantle took over in 2018.
Peter White contributed to this report.