The NEW Baywatch Trailer Looks Ridiculous – Naturally, I’m In

I loved Baywatch the first time around, and FOX is bringing it back in January 2027. I’m excited. Watch the new trailer.

There are things you reach an age where you stop being embarrassed about, like cereal for dinner and knowing every word to bad songs.

And, apparently, Baywatch.

FOX is bringing it back in January 2027, and I’m just going to say it: I’m genuinely excited.

We Were All Watching Baywatch

If you were around in the 1990s and early 2000s, you probably watched more Baywatch than you intended to. The reruns were everywhere. You’d be flipping channels on some random Saturday afternoon, and there was Mitch Buchannon, staring intensely at the Pacific because somebody was about to make a catastrophically bad swimming decision. Then you kept watching.

Liking Baywatch wasn’t considered sophisticated at the time. Unless you were Joey and Chandler on Friends, whose appreciation mostly revolved around Yasmine Bleeth running in slow motion. The rest of us were supposed to pretend we’d accidentally, maybe seen a couple of episodes, or part of one while flipping channels. But we never admitted to seeking it out.

I would like to correct the record. I loved Baywatch.

And No, It Wasn’t Just Pamela Anderson

Pamela Anderson was obviously gorgeous. So was basically everyone else on that show, and I’m fairly sure physical attractiveness was part of the lifeguard certification process.

But I watched because it was ridiculously easy television. You didn’t need to remember what happened six episodes ago or consult a Reddit thread. You could stumble into an episode halfway through and catch up fast. Someone was drowning. Someone was dating someone they shouldn’t be. A dramatic rescue was coming, and David Hasselhoff was going to look concerned. We were good.

And every once in a while, I learned something about ocean safety. Have I ever needed it? No. Could I theoretically recognize a rip current because of TV I watched decades ago? Maybe. Educational programming!

What FOX Is Bringing Back

The original premiered in 1989 and ran for 11 seasons, becoming a worldwide hit. FOX ordered 12 episodes of the new version for the 2026-27 season, and it’s technically a sequel, not a remake.

Stephen Amell plays Hobie Buchannon, the now-grown son of David Hasselhoff’s Mitch. Hobie is a Baywatch captain whose life is turned upside down when Charlie (Jessica Belkin), the daughter he never knew he had, shows up wanting to join the family business. Which means Hobie Buchannon has an adult daughter. I’m choosing not to dwell on what that says about my own age.

Hassie Harrison, Shay Mitchell, Thaddeus LaGrone, Noah Beck, and Brooks Nader round out the new lifeguards, with Livvy Dunne in a recurring role. David Chokachi returns as Cody Madison, and Erika Eleniak as Shauni McClain, so a few familiar faces mix with the ridiculously photogenic newcomers.

Please Don’t Make It Prestige Television

My one request: nobody overthinks this. I don’t need a gritty study of the psychological toll of lifeguarding, or eight interconnected mysteries involving the mayor of Los Angeles and Mitch Buchannon’s secret past. Baywatch certainly doesn’t need to apologize for being Baywatch.

Give me beautiful lifeguards racing toward people in danger and ridiculous beach drama. Give me a romance I can follow even if I missed the last episode. I want something I can turn on for an hour and then get on with my life, without consulting an explainer called “17 Things You Missed in Episode Four.”

FOX’s description promises adrenaline-fueled rescues and messy relationships, so the people making it seem to understand the assignment.

Sometimes Mindless Fun Is the Point

TV has gotten very good at requiring homework. I love plenty of shows that demand my full attention. The kind where looking at my phone for thirty seconds means missing a facial expression that matters seven episodes later. There’s room for both.

Maybe that’s why I’m more excited than I expected. Baywatch is from a time when you could just watch something, with no binge strategy, no discourse, and no spreadsheet tracking which universe the characters belong to. Just attractive people, questionable decisions, and an alarming number of emergencies on one stretch of beach.

Will the new one recreate exactly what I loved about the original? Probably not, and it shouldn’t. But if it captures some of that same uncomplicated energy, I’m in.

Watch the Trailer

The new trailer opens with a parasailing rescue, and the slow-motion running arrives right on schedule.