"Bad Boys" TV Show Spinoff Gets an Official Title & Synopsis

The NBC Bad Boys TV spinoff has finally earned itself a title, as Gabrielle Union gets closer to bringing her Bad Boys II character to the small screen. The action-drama pilot has been filming for some time, and is intended to lead towards an order for a full series. Once simply known as ‘Untitled Gabrielle Union Project‘ by the TV studio and ‘Bad Boys TV Show Spinoff‘ by everybody else, the show is now officially called L.A.’s Finest.

Whilst the filming of Bads Boys for Life remains unconfirmed at present, NBC ordered the Bad Boys spinoff pilot at the start of 2018. Union reprises her role as Special Agent Syd Burnett from Bad Boys II. In that film, she was the sister to Martin Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett and the love-interest to Will Smith’s Michael “Mike” Lowrey, but mostly she was an impetuous undercover DEA officer dedicated to busting Russian mobsters and a Cuban drug ring. The show will see her return to normal police duties and paired up with Jessica Alba’s more cautious detective. Filming has been going on since the start of April, with pictures of Union and Alba on-set toting firearms marking the start of production.

Several names for the Bad Boys TV spinoff were reportedly considered (including the obvious Bad Girls), but Deadline is now reporting that L.A.’s Finest will be the actual title. It does seems a bit generic and won’t immediately link Union’s character to the Bad Boys franchise, for those that aren’t aware of it heading in. Hopefully, when a premiere date is announced, the promotions and advertising will take care of that. Although the plot details for the pilot have changed little since its inception, the official synopsis currently runs like this:

“The free-spirited former DEA agent Burnett has a fresh start in her new job as an LAPD detective. She’s partnered with Nancy McKenna (Alba), a working mom who can’t help but look at Syd’s freedom with some grass-is-greener envy. These two have totally different lifestyles and approaches, but they both are at the top of their fields in this action-packed, character-driven procedural.”

The show has a pretty strong cast with Ernie Hudson playing Syd’s father, and Ryan McPartlin playing Nancy’s husband. Zach McGowan is said to be portraying the Big Bad in the pilot, a nightclub owner with some shady connections. The spinoff is written by Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier (The Blacklist) and directed by Anton Cropper (Suits). Alba and Union are also executive producing alongside Sonnier, Margolis, and franchise runner Jerry Bruckheimer.

There is apparently a good buzz around the production behind the scenes, and it’s possible to imagine Alba and Union creating a female version of the chemistry that existed between Smith and Lawrence in the films. For comparison, the Fox TV version of Lethal Weapon worked surprisingly well, so if this pilot is successful we could be seeing an ongoing women-led action cop show figure prominently in future schedules and ratings.