In an interview with The Production Meeting Podcast this week, the “Baywatch” star claimed he’s had recent talks about rebooting the ’90s lifeguard series.
“Right before COVID, they were in talks of rebooting the show,” he declared. “They were going to bring back three of the regulars from the original and I’m one of them, I found out, which is cool.”
The actor, now 52, said he’s been pitching a reboot for years and this isn’t the first time there have been serious talks about it happening.
“I had pitched them, they rebooted every show from the ’90s and I’d say half of them were hits. I was like, ‘Why are you guys lagging on this, why didn’t you try and strike?'” he continued. “Then the movie came out and the movie squashed any idea. CBS was going to do the show, I had a meeting with them, a location scout. Then the movie came out and instead CBS went with [Magnum PI] that year.”
The 2017 movie starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Zac Efron and Priyanka Chopra — with only Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff returning in cameo roles. The raunchy film was savaged by critics and considered a flop in the U.S., but fared better overseas.
“They’re still trying and creatively, do I wanna go back and do that work? Why not?” added Chokachi. “In this day and age, that show could blow up again on streaming.”
He also said he’s still making residuals off the original series and feels the show could “find a real audience again.”
“I think that show could come back and find a real audience again,” he added. “If you got the right young group of kids, young actors together with a couple of the OGs, I’m still rooting for it man.”
CBS wasn’t immediately available for comment. According to sources, however, the network is not and has not been working on a reboot.
