‘Baywatch’ Trailer: Stephen Amell Takes Charge as Original Lifeguards Return

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Grab your red swimsuit and prepare to run very, very slowly towards the sea. FOX and Sky have released a new full trailer for ‘Baywatch‘, bringing the legendary lifeguard drama back to television with Stephen Amell (‘Arrow’, ‘Heels’) leading a new generation of beach-based rescuers. The series arrives on FOX in the US this January, while UK viewers will be able to catch it on Sky and NOW.

Rather than starting completely from scratch, the new ‘Baywatch’ picks up in the same universe as the original series. Amell plays Hobie Buchannon, the grown-up son of Mitch Buchannon, famously played by David Hasselhoff (‘Knight Rider’). Hobie, previously portrayed by Jeremy Jackson in the original series, has followed his father’s footsteps and become captain of an elite lifeguard team on the Southern California coast.

Of course, being a Buchannon apparently means your family life has to be at least as complicated as your day job. Hobie’s world gets turned upside down when his estranged daughter, Charlie Vale, played by Jessica Belkin (‘Elle’, ‘The Hunting Wives’), suddenly turns up wanting to reconnect with her father. Oh, and she’d also quite like a job as a lifeguard. What could possibly go wrong?

The trailer certainly isn’t holding back on the action, opening with a dramatic rescue after a plane crash in the water. There are plenty of crashing waves and, naturally, those iconic slow-motion runs along the sand. It looks like FOX is aiming to combine the gloriously over-the-top appeal of the original with a more modern, big-budget take on the rescue sequences. Some things change. The red swimsuits, thankfully, are non-negotiable.

A New Team With Some Familiar Faces

Joining the two leads are Hassie Harrison (‘Yellowstone’) as Nat, Shay Mitchell (‘Pretty Little Liars’) as Trina, Thaddeus LaGrone as Brad, Noah Beck (‘Sidelined’) as Luke and Brooks Nader (‘Love Thy Nader’) as Selene. Livvy Dunne also appears in a recurring role as Grace.

And because this is a continuation rather than a clean reboot, some old favourites are back on the beach too. David Chokachi returns as Cody Madison, a mainstay of the original series during the 1990s. These days Cody runs The Shoreline bar and grill, although he’s apparently still happy to get back into the water when somebody needs saving. You can take the lifeguard off the beach, but you can’t entirely take the beach out of the lifeguard.

Erika Eleniak returns as Shauni McClain, while Michael Bergin and Kelly Packard are also set to guest-star as J.D. Darius and April Giminski respectively. Meanwhile, Mary McDonnell (‘Battlestar Galactica’) joins the cast as Hobie’s mother Gayle Buchannon, a character previously played by Wendie Malick (‘Just Shoot Me!’).

For anyone who missed the original phenomenon, ‘Baywatch’ first hit screens in 1989 and went on to become one of the biggest television exports of the 1990s. It helped turn its red-swimsuited stars into household names, including Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff, and even spawned a spin-off, ‘Baywatch Nights’, and a 2017 film adaptation. Clearly, you can only keep a good lifeguard franchise out of the water for so long.

The new 12-episode series is co-produced by FOX Entertainment and Fremantle, with Matt Nix (‘Burn Notice’, ‘The Gifted’) serving as showrunner. McG directs the opening episode and also executive-produces alongside Nix, Michael Berk, Greg Bonann, Doug Schwartz, Dante Di Loreto and Mike Horowitz.

For UK viewers, Sky has already secured the rights to the series, with the drama set to arrive on Sky One and NOW during 2027. Whether we’ll be watching alongside American audiences in January or waiting a little longer remains to be seen. Either way, it’s probably time to start practising that slow-motion run. Just maybe don’t try it on a freezing British beach.

‘Baywatch‘ Season 1 premieres in January 2027 on FOX in the US and on Sky and NOW in the UK.

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