Every week, Santa Monica Next reprints a story from City Manager Oliver Chi’s newsletter.
If you spotted red lifeguard uniforms and slow-motion beach sprints along our coastline this past week, your eyes weren’t deceiving you!
Baywatch – yes, that Baywatch! – was officially filming in Santa Monica!
Fox and Fremantle’s long-anticipated revival of the iconic series has been in active production on Los Angeles- area beaches since mid-March, headed toward a premiere during the 2026–27 television season. The new 12- episode season is co-showrun by Matt Nix (Burn Notice) with McG directing the pilot, and stars Stephen Amell as Hobie Buchannon.
In the reboot, Hobie Buchannon is the grown-up son of David Hasselhoff’s legendary Mitch. And in a detail that should bring a smile to every Santa Monican… original cast member Erika Eleniak is guest- starring in the revamped show as Shauni McClain… now written into the new series as a Santa Monica city councilwoman!
There’s a reason “back where it belongs” is the right phrase here. The original Baywatch (1989–1999) filmed extensively on Santa Monica State Beach, and the red lifeguard uniforms and blue lifeguard towers the world associates with our City largely entered global pop culture through this show. At the franchise’s peak, Baywatch was the most-watched television series in the world, drawing 1.1 billion weekly viewers across more than 200 countries!
Few pieces of media have shaped the global image of our coastline more. Our Film Santa Monica team worked closely with the production this past week to bring Baywatch back to our beaches for five days of filming, and by every account from the crew, their Santa Monica experience has been terrific. The production team has been generous in its praise of our beaches, our cleanliness, our ease of permitting and operations, our parking, and the people supporting the work on the ground! On their first day shooting here, Film Santa Monica posted simply: “Baywatch is officially filming in Santa Monica! Back where it belongs.”
Looking ahead, we’re in early conversations about what a larger, sustained Santa Monica presence might look like, both for the remainder of this season and, potentially, for future seasons. Nothing to announce yet, but the door is open and the dialogue is productive.
A massive thank you to our Film Santa Monica team and to all of our City staff who made this week possible on short notice! The team made Santa Monica look easy, professional, and welcoming, which is exactly the reputation we want production teams carrying back with them! Moving ahead, we’ll keep everyone posted as conversations continue, and kudos to all for the great work on this front!
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