Follow
Link copied to clipboard
Willa Rowe is a contributing writer at Polygon, covering games and entertainment. She is a New York-based journalist and critic whose work has been featured in Kotaku, Digital Trends, the A.V. Club, GamesRadar+, and more. She also co-hosts the Girl Mode podcast.
Stephen Amell leads the latest iteration of the iconic series
Sign in to your Polygon.com account
Fox's Baywatch reboot is just around the corner, and the first full official trailer for the series shows everything fans could want. There are hot bodies, action, drama, so much slo-mo, and ... Megan Thee Stallion?! Yes, all those things and more are set to be in the series when it premieres in January 2027.
The biggest thing fans will take away from the Baywatch trailer is that Fox isn't trying to reinvent the wheel. Basically everything that goes on seems like it fits exactly in the mold of the original 1989 show. The trailer teases just one of the show's over-the-top plots: a plane crashes into the water and lifeguards must rescue its pilot from the ocean floor. It's absurd and it's wonderful.
The new Baywatch is led by Stephen Amell (Arrow), who will be playing Hobie Buchannon, the son of David Hasselhoff's character from the original series. He serves as Baywatch captain and leads his fellow lifeguards in keeping the beach safe, while also dealing with the sudden appearance of his estranged daughter Charlie Vale (Jessica Belkin). The trailer also shows snippets of the beach on fire, a big explosion, and everybody running around oiled up in slow motion. Musician Megan Thee Stallion briefly appears as well; she was spotted filming an appearance for the show earlier this year. Baywatch is so back.
Who is in Fox's Baywatch reboot?
Alongside Amell and Belkin, the cast also includes Hassie Harrison, Shay Mitchell, Thaddeus LaGrone, Noah Beck, Livvy Dunne, and Brooks Nader. David Chokachi, who starred in the original Baywatch, will also have a recurring role. Fox and Fremantle are producing the series with Matt Nix (Burn Notice) serving as showrunner and executive producer.
The original Baywatch first aired in 1989 and starred David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson. The show has been touted as the most-watched television series of all-time, according to Guinness World Records. The series ran for 11 seasons and spawned a short-lived spin-off, Baywatch Hawaii. Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron led a film reboot that cast the story as a comedy, which was met with negative reactions.