‘Bad Boys’ Spinoff ‘L.A.’s Finest’ Canceled at Spectrum

L.A.’s Finest has been canceled after two seasons at Spectrum Originals, Variety reported Wednesday. The Bad Boys franchise spinoff starred Gabrielle Union as Syd Burnett, her character from the 2003 film Bad Boys II, as a detective with a difficult past moving from Miami to Los Angeles, where she is paired with Jessica Alba’s Nancy McKenna. Ryan McPartlin, Sophie Reynolds, Ernie Hudson, Zach Gilford and Duane Martin also starred.

L.A.’s Finest cancellation news comes just five months after Fox announced it had acquired the broadcast rights to both seasons of the show, as it had to rework its fall schedule due to a number of gaps caused by the COVID-19 pandemic production shutdown. The first season began airing on the network in September, with Season 2 premiering on Spectrum Originals earlier that month. The Bad Boys spinoff has had a difficult run, having been passed over as an NBC pilot during the 2018 pilot season before being picked up by Spectrum as its first original series before its 2019 debut. Season 2 was originally supposed to premiere in June, but Charter Communications made a last-second decision to push its premiere back due to Black Lives Matter protests that spread across the world calling for an end to police brutality and racism following the death of George Floyd in police custody.

The show was also struck with tragedy in February 2019, when showrunners Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis were injured during a car stunt scene, with Sonnier requiring his leg to be amputated below the knee. “I don’t know if there is a word that’s big enough to describe how the whole production felt, how everyone associated with the show felt, I don’t know if saying it was ‘heartbreaking’ or ‘devastating’ is enough,” Union told Variety after the incident. “I don’t have a word. With all of my fancy degrees I don’t have a word that’s big enough to describe how we felt.”

Alba added that Sonnier is “resilient and inspiring,” praising him for being such a positive force in such a difficult time. “[But] you go through something that is like that you see the type of family and community that you surround yourself with, and he and all of us really came together as a family in a way that you just never even realize until something like that happens,” Alba said. “We’ve been texting. They are excited for this next season. They are already pitching different things. We are securing our crew. They are texting us about that. There are many emojis that he is using. Yeah, he is just so resilient.”