Fox orders 12-episode Baywatch reboot for 2026-27 season

Fox has handed a straight-to-series order for a 12-episode reboot of Baywatch, the network and rights holder Fremantle announced, with the new lifeguard drama slated to premiere in the 2026-2027 broadcast season. Burn Notice creator Matt Nix will serve as showrunner and executive producer, and original Baywatch creators Michael Berk, Greg Bonann and Doug Schwartz will return as executive producers alongside Dante Di Loreto. No cast has been attached.

The reboot will be coproduced by Fox Entertainment and Fremantle and is described as preserving the adrenaline-fueled rescues, tangled relationships and beachside heroics that defined the original while updating the series with contemporary tensions and a renewed mission to protect Southern California's shoreline. Fox Television Network president Michael Thorn said the partnership with Fremantle and Nix will "bring the California dream to a whole new generation of fans with fresh stories, rising stars and all the spectacle that make the Baywatch franchise a global sensation." Christian Vesper, Fremantle's CEO of global drama, added that the goal is to reconnect existing fans while introducing the world of the famed lifeguards to...