Eddie Murphy and The Shield creator Shawn Ryan have teamed up to bring back the role that Murphy made popular back in 1984. That’s right, Beverly Hills Cop. But Murphy isn’t looking to reprise his role as Axel Foley. Instead, he and Ryan are pitching a new era for the film as they envision it becoming an hour long TV series where Foley’s son moves to Beverly Hills from Detroit and tries to escape the shadow of his wise cracking father. The news first broke on Vulture, where Murphy divulged some details on the show as they looked back to Murphy’s Rolling Stone interview where he first discussed the possibility of bringing back Foley.

Murphy telegraphed his intent to be a visible presence in the TV version of Cop during his chat with Rolling Stone last October. “I’d do the pilot, show up here and there,” he told the magazine. Murphy was also very specific about the idea he had for reviving Axel. It would be a series “starring Axel Foley’s son, and Axel is the chief of police now in Detroit.” Vulture hasn’t heard details of the pitch to networks, so it’s very possible that the concept Ryan and Murphy is bringing to the networks has changed since. Our spies were only sure that the series is designed to be “a buddy cop show,” that it will be an hourlong crime procedural with strong comedic elements (hello, CBS!), and that Murphy would appear in the pilot and possibly a few special episodes throughout the first season.

Both ABC and Fox have reportedly heard the pitch and NBC and CBS are next. Will the show be picked up? And, if it is, how will network television bring about the spice that Murphy had that made the film so popular in the 80s?

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