Beverly Hills Cop TV Series Erased From Franchise Canon
If you grew up in the late 1990s or early 2000s, you likely spent a sizable portion of your childhood watching and re-watching the original Beverly Hills Cop trilogy on cable. The films, which star Eddie Murphy in one of his finest leading roles ever committed to the screen, were played on TV nearly every week during this time, making them a mainstay in the homes of comedy and action fans across the world. Despite the success of the films on TV, the short-lived Beverly Hills Cop series was never able to make the same impact, and has ultimately been scrubbed from the franchise’s canon.
The show was designed to be an episodic police procedural with a different case each week, led by Brandon T. Jackson as Axel Foley’s young adult son, Aaron Foley.
Even if you’re a Beverly Hills Cop super-fan, you might be thinking to yourself “series? What series?” That’s because the brief outing never fully made it to air, as only the pilot episode ever premiered. Back in the early 2010s, CBS attempted to launch a television show based on the hit movies, simply, and confusingly, titled Beverly Hills Cop. The show was designed to be an episodic police procedural with a different case each week, led by Brandon T. Jackson as Axel Foley’s young adult son, Aaron Foley.
Executives quickly took the hint, scrapped the Beverly Hills Cop series, and instead started working out the rights to a fourth film in the franchise.
Over the course of the Beverly Hills Cop series, Aaron would traverse the same upscale streets of Beverly Hills that his Detroit native father once walked, in the hopes of living up to his dad’s legendary name. If the show has progressed to a full season, Aaron would often find himself facing the same systemic push-back that forced his father to play fast and loose with the rule of law, but in a more modern context.
The pilot episode was shot as a TV movie, and released on the network back in 2013, but the series failed to make a big enough splash on the network, as test audiences seemed uninterested in Aaron Foley’s journey.
Despite the lack of general interest from crowds, a brief cameo from Eddie Murphy’s Axel caused test audiences to go through the roof, proving that there was still a high demand for additional Axel Foley adventures. The studio then asked Eddie Murphy if he would appear in subsequent episodes as a recurring guest or a member of the main cast, though Murphy turned them down, explaining that he wasn’t interested in taking on the long-term commitment and low pay of a television gig. Executives quickly took the hint, scrapped the Beverly Hills Cop series, and instead started working out the rights to a fourth film in the franchise.
The character of Aaron is never seen or mentioned in Axel F, which makes perfect sense as the TV movie has been all but scrubbed from existence.
As you likely already know, this ultimately led to the creation of the recently-released Netflix original Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, which seems to have erased the events of the short-lived series from the franchise’s canon entirely. The character of Aaron is never seen or mentioned in Axel F, which makes perfect sense as the TV movie has been all but scrubbed from existence. If you had any interest in watching the intended Beverly Hills Cop pilot today, you’d likely have to track down somebody with an old cable recording of it, as CBS has no plans to ever release the project onto streaming platforms.
