It's been in development for some time, but Fox's Baywatch reboot is finally coming to fruition. Fox has officially ordered the project to series, handing it a twelve-episode order for the 2026-27 TV season, eschewing a pilot and ordering it straight to series. The original show's setting of Los Angeles is in consideration as a potential setting, as is Australia. It's not the network's only lifeguard series in recent years, as last year's Rescue: HI-Surf featured a similar premise. That show was a ratings misfire, averaging just 0.22 in the key 18-49 demo despite a 1.1 post-NFL premiere rating, and being canceled after just a single season, despite Fox being high enough on it to give it a nineteen-episode order from the jump. Clearly, Fox is hoping that the nostalgia is still there for Baywatch and that that will keep it from being a HI-Surf-esque ratings debacle. The original series ran for just one season on NBC before being canceled due to tepid ratings, but it lived on in first-run syndication, airing a further ten seasons there. It was later rebooted in the form of a 2017 comedy film starring The Rock and Zac Efron, and was a commercial success. With no pilot being filmed, there's no cast in place yet for this reboot, but it is said that there will be an entirely-new cast, rather than bringing back any regulars from Baywatch's original run.
What do you think of this news? Will you be tuning in for Baywatch? Let us know in the comments!
