In the original Baywatch, saving a drowning swimmer apparently didn’t require getting your hair wet.
“Pamela Anderson would walk up to the edge of the beach,” Fox TV Network president Michael Thorn recalled at MIPCOM CANNES from the stage on Tuesday. “Her hair was perfect. Her makeup was on, and she’d reach out very gently” to rescue someone.
That won’t swim in 2027.
As Fox prepares to bring back one of television’s most recognizable franchises in January, the network is promising more than red swimsuits and slow-motion beach runs. Indeed, when the action-packed Baywatch 2027 trailer was shown before Janice Min’s panel with Thorn, Jens Richter, Fremantle CEO of commercial and international, and stars Stephen Amell and Brooks Nader, the international audience spontaneously burst into applause.
“Are you telling me that there was an option for me to not go in the water?” joked Amell, best known for playing the title superhero in Arrow. Amell — who stars as the grown Hobie Buchannon, the son of David Hasselhoff’s character in the original — said filming Baywatch was considerably more grueling than he expected. From sunrise to sunset on Venice Beach, he endured scorching heat, cold and demanding water sequences — including a dive toward a submerged plane in the first episode.
“It’s a superhero show,” Amell realized early in the shoot. “That’s what it feels like to me. And that makes my job easy.”
But the biggest stunt may be what Amell does out of the water: He revealed his character turns out to be a karaoke sensation, belting out Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”
Still, even as the 12-episode debut season features “real rescues, real danger, high-stakes action,” according to Thorn, Richter says the show is beyond genre, calling it “pure entertainment at its best.” And in an era when streaming is obsessed with culturally specific, locally produced hits, Baywatch is betting on something old-fashioned: entertainment that needs no translation.
“Somebody’s in red bathing trunks or bathing suit,” Richter said. “It’s very clear what this is.”
Beneath the sand is a family story: Hobie’s estranged daughter suddenly appears in his life. Amell said showrunner Matt Nix helped take the pressure off reviving the iconic franchise by explaining that the new Baywatch is, at its heart, a father-daughter drama.
Thorn also sees an opportunity in the show’s unapologetic optimism. “There’s so many dark shows on television,” he said, filled with “flawed, cynical leads who do terrible things.” What’s missing, he argued, is the kind of escapist fun that made Baywatch a global sensation in the first place.
Not that life on Venice Beach will be entirely conflict-free.
Brooks Nader plays Selene, a rival lifeguard whose complicated relationship with Hobie promises plenty of friction. In fact, Nader, who grew up idolizing Anderson and Carmen Electra — she even showed up to the panel in a copy of one Anderson’s famous Cannes ’fits from 1995 — wasn’t even originally part of the cast. Thorn revealed that Nix created the role specifically for her after she expressed interest in joining the series.
“I think that she has a really hard exterior, but you’ll get to see some really weird soft sides to her,” Nader teased. “She and Hobie have a really interesting relationship.”
Added Thorn: “Every show needs somebody who stirs the pot.”
As for cameos from the original cast? David Chokachi, who played Cody Madison, is returning, along with Hasselhoff and several other familiar faces. But what about Anderson? Is she finally ready to get her hair wet?
“Not yet,” Thorn said, before floating the possibility of a return in a second season.
Wait, did he just announce season two?
Not quite, he quickly clarified. But never say never.
Regardless, Nader is thrilled to be carrying on the Baywatch legacy. “You’re really blessed and feeling honored to be filling these shoes,” she said. “Or swimsuits, in our case.”
Also On the Cannes Beach
The conversation was just one highlight of a whirlwind week for Fox at the international TV market. Earlier, Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade, president of global Prentiss Fraser, and head of Fox Creator Studios Billy Parks sat with creator Josh Richards and his CrossCheck Studios co-founder Chris Sawtelle for a conversation at the MIP Creative Hub. Parks’ division — which recently added Bryan Thoensen as senior vice president, content partnerships — backs Richards’ digital comedy sketch show, Read the Room. Wade also announced from the stage a new partnership to produce microdramas with Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat.
And then it was time to party.
Right after both conversations, the Fox Beach House adjacent to the Palais also was the venue that evening for The Ankler’s Future of Entertainment soiree, where Fox leaders, Nader and Amell mingled with Christie Brinkley, Richards and Sawtelle; YouTube’s Justin Connolly; Banijay’s Jane Turton, Ben Samek and Patrick Holland, Bell Media’s Sean Cohan and Justin Stockman, the exec team behind Heated Rivalry and the upcoming Hudson Williams series Yaga; Hulu’s Lauren Tempest; and Cathy Boxall, global head of entertainment, Dentsu. Along with Parks, Wade and Connolly, Ankler Future of Entertainment 25 honorees in attendance included Dawn Yang of TikTok and HOLYWATER founders Anatolii Kasianov and Bogdan Nesvit.
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