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The Baywatch Reboot Just Cast David Hasslehoff’s Replacement (& He’s An Arrowverse Star)
Fox’s Baywatch reboot has been picking up steam in recent months. The latest reboot of the iconic late 1980s series has been in the works for years at this point, finally getting a series order last fall and then an open casting call coming up later this month, but now we have the biggest piece of news about this return to the beach and all its drama yet. On Friday, it was announced that the new Baywatch has found its lead and it means one Arrowverse hero is trading a super suit for a Speedo.
Arrow star Stephen Amell has been cast in the lead role for the upcoming reboot series which is expected to air for the 2026-2027 broadcast season, according to Variety. Production on the series is set to kick off this spring. Amell is said to be playing Hobie Buchannon, the “wild child we all loved from the original series”. Per the character description, Hobie is now a Baywatch Captain having followed in the footsteps of his father Mitch (played by David Hasselhoff in the original series.) In the new series, “Hobie’s world is turned upside down when Charlie, the daughter he never knew, shows up on his doorstep, eager to carry on the Buchannon family legacy and become a Baywatch lifeguard alongside her dad.”
Amell’s casting is the first official casting announcement for Baywatch and sees the actor remain on television following his most recent series, Suits LA. The NBC spin off of Suits was cancelled after just one season last May. Amell previously starred as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow on The CW’s Arrow and Starz’s Heels.
What Can We Expect From The New Baywatch?
Fox’s upcoming Baywatch series is the latest reboot of sorts for the original series. The original Baywatch debuted in 1989 and starred Hasselhoff as Mitch Buchannon and followed the personal and professional challenges of lifeguards patrolling the beaches of Los Angeles County, California and Hawaii. The series was initially cancelled after one season by NBC, but found major success in syndication, ultimately running for 11 seasons and becoming the most-watched television series in the world. The series became Baywatch: Hawaii in 1999 after a setting and cast change. It also got a 2-season spinoff series, Baywatch Nights, and there was a feature film reboot adaptation in 2017 starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.
From everything that we know so far about Fox’s Baywatch, this new series will be less of a reboot and more of a follow up series to the original. While the series seems to be sticking with much of the same general premise as the original Baywatch in that it is focusing on the lives of lifeguards both on and off the beach as well as their complicated personal relationships. Amell’s casting confirms that we’re also getting a next generation approach, which will offer a new spin on the story so it’s not just the same thing we’ve seen before. It is an approach that should appeal to fans of the original Baywatch while also allowing for a new generation and a new audience to discover the drama. What remains to be seen, however, is how the series will approach the sexualization of its cast and characters. That was something that was a hallmark of the original series. Given that times have changed, it will be interesting to see how the new Baywatch approaches that particular aesthetic — as well as it will be interesting to see if the beach is as dramatic as it used to be.
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