The Bad Boys franchise recently received a TV show spinoff called L.A.’s Finest, but did movie stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence ever appear? Successful movies getting TV spinoffs is by no means a new phenomenon, although there are definitely more of them made nowadays. That’s partly due to Hollywood becoming almost entirely reliant on established properties to sustain themselves financially, with the number of original IPs debuted by major studios each year falling to a sometimes sad low in the process.
At the same time, one can’t blame them given that sequels, reboots, spinoffs, and TV continuations tend to draw more interest and dollars than anything new. Not all such projects are bad by any means either, although judging by the critical response L.A.’s Finest received during its run as a Spectrum Original, it would appear the Bad Boys spinoff might’ve edged toward the bad end of the spectrum. LA.’s Finest did prove popular enough to get a second season, so there’s that to consider.
The spinoff centers on the character of Sydney Burnett (Gabrielle Union), a former DEA agent turned LAPD cop and sister of Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett. Sydney was introduced in Bad Boys 2. Alongside her is new partner Nancy McKenna (The Offfice cameo star Jessica Alba), a newly created character. Together, the duo fought crime in the city of angels, but sadly never got a visit from either Lawrence’s Marcus or his partner Mike Lowrey (Smith).
There was, however, a consideration of having Union and Alba appear in Bad Boys for Life as their L.A.’s Finest characters. Ultimately though, it was determined that the logistics of making that idea work were just too difficult to iron out, as L.A.’s Finest didn’t get picked up by Spectrum until Bad Boys for Life was already close to filming. At that point, the script for the threequel was completed and would’ve had to have a new subplot inserted to explain Sydney and Nancy joining in the fun. L.A.’s Finest season 2 never tied into the Bad Boys movies either, and one assumes Smith and Lawrence’s busy schedules likely precluded a cameo on the small screen.
With L.A.’s Finest now canceled, there obviously won’t be a meeting between the two pairs of cops on TV, but with Bad Boys 4 in the works, Union and Alba could theoretically appear there instead. There’s certainly enough time left to work them into the story if everyone wants to do that, and there certainly were some fans disappointed when Union’s Sydney didn’t return in Bad Boys for Life. Still, with the short run of L.A.’s Finest, it’s quite possible the producers of Bad Boys 4 will opt to ignore the spinoff and focus on another crazy adventure embarked on by Mike and Marcus.