Grab your sunscreen, inflate your rescue float, and practice your slow-motion jog, because ‘Baywatch’ is officially returning. Fox has given the reboot a straight-to-series order for 12 episodes, splashing down sometime in the 2026-2027 season.
The new iteration will be helmed by Matt Nix (Burn Notice), who is both showrunner and executive producer. Fremantle, along with original co-creator Greg Bonann, are back on board, making sure the waves of nostalgia crash hard enough to drench a whole new generation of viewers.
According to Fox, ‘Baywatch’ will once again deliver “adrenaline-fueled rescues, tangled relationships, complicated chemistry and beachside heroics that defined the original, now with an entirely new cast donning the show’s signature red swimsuits, contemporary trappings, tensions and challenges, and a renewed mission to protect Southern California’s shoreline.”
The original series first hit NBC in 1989, only to be cancelled after one season. Then, in true lifeguard fashion, it heroically resuscitated itself in syndication, running for 11 seasons until 2001. It starred David Hasselhoff (Knight Rider) as Mitch Buchannon, helped make Pamela Anderson a global icon, and even gave a young Jason Momoa (Aquaman) some early waves to ride in the later years.
Michael Thorn, President of Fox Television Network, said: “In its first run, Baywatch defined an entire era of beach life and elevated lifeguards to an iconic status. Now, with our partners at Fremantle, this television juggernaut is set for a modern-day comeback. Together, Fox and Fremantle, along with Matt Nix and original co-creator Greg Bonann, will bring the California dream to a whole new generation of fans with fresh stories, rising stars and all the spectacle that makes the Baywatch franchise a global sensation.”
Filming locations are still being nailed down. Southern California is the natural frontrunner, although Australia is apparently in the mix if tax credits make the water warmer. Either way, the shoreline drama and iconic slo-mo beach runs are guaranteed.
On the UK side of things, there’s no confirmed broadcaster yet. Fox has no direct outlet here, which means the rights could wash up anywhere. Sky would seem the likeliest bidder given their history of snapping up big US dramas, but ITV might also throw their hat in the ring, especially since they ran the original series back in the day.
If you fancy some retro lifeguard action while you wait, the first five seasons of the original ‘Baywatch’ are streaming now on ITVX, while all episodes can be found on Pluto TV’s free service. Perfect background viewing while practising your slow-mo run past the sofa.
So, grab your metaphorical whistle: the lifeguards are back, the swimsuits are red, and the waves of nostalgia are about to hit harder than a rogue surfboard.
‘Baywatch’ Season 1 premieres during the 2026-2027 season on Fox in the USA. No UK broadcaster at the moment. If you want to keep track of this or any other shows, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date. Visit Never Miss.
1 comment
You can also find seasons one to eight on the Baywatch you tube channel. They started uploading them there earlier this year but for some reason haven’t gone past 9.2 These are the remastered versions though, which have lost a lot of the original music for rights reasons. The remastered version of episode one hundred ‘the runaways’ has lost ten mins of run time due to this. The ITVX versions are old syndicated copies so not remastered. Thus one way to see the Runaways. But these appear to have been cut for time and do seem to miss the occasional scene. Pluto tv has the remastered ones. Honestly if you want to get the 90’s experience best thing is the German dvd box set. Which is region two and has english as a language option.
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