Last week, news broke that Eddie Murphy and “The Shield” creator Shawn Ryan were teaming to executive produce a small screen version of the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise.
Today, Deadline.com is reporting that the Sony TV-produced project has received a pilot production commitment from CBS.
Ryan will serve as showrunner on the potential series, a sequel to the three movies that chronicled the exploits of wise-cracking Detroit detective Axel Foley (Murphy) in Los Angeles. The proposed series has a similar fish-out-of-water setup and centers on Axel Foley’s blue-collar police officer son, Aaron, who helps take down the criminal elements of the rich and famous in Beverly Hills while trying to escape the shadow of his larger-than-life father.
Murphy will reprise his role as Axel in the pilot and may recur if the pilot goes to series. Ryan will write the script and executive produce with his producing partner at MiddKid Prods. Marney Hochman.
Murphy had been trying to get a Beverly Hills Cop series about Axel’s son off the ground for about a year, after plans for a fourth movie were scrapped.
“Beverly Hills Cop,” which was pitched to all four major broadcast networks last week, marks Ryan’s return to CBS, where he executive produced and ran the military drama “The Unit,” starring Dennis Haysbert.
Information from Eurweb.com and Deadline.com contributed to this report.
