‘Baywatch’ Reboot Lands At Fox With Sizable Commitment

Fox is doubling down on lifeguard dramas with a significant script plus 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 remake. At the time, Fox already had started conversations with the indie 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 subsequently picked up to 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 Baywatch, potentially as a summer series.

The new “action-packed” Baywatch reboot is written by Lara Olsen who will serve as showrunner. In it, daring ocean rescues, pristine beaches, and iconic red bathing suits are back, along with a whole new generation of Baywatch lifeguards, who navigate complicated, messy personal lives.

Olsen executive produces with Baywatch creators Michael Berk, Greg Bonann and Doug Schwartz.

The original series, which made international stars of the likes of David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson, followed a group of lifeguards who patrolled the beaches of LA County. Initially produced for NBC by Gannett, the show premiered in fall 1989 and was canceled by the network after one season.

However, the Baywatch producers bought back the rights and produced a syndicated version via 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 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. It spawned the Baywatch Nights spinoff and Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding, a two-hour reunion movie that aired on Fox, as well as the 2017 feature headlined by Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.

Fremantle held the rights to the show after All American Television was subsumed into Pearson, which became Fremantle. Beta held the international distribution rights before Fremantle took over in 2018.

Peter White contributed to this report.