CBS Lands Shawn Ryan and Eddie Murphy's 'Beverly Hills Cop'

Eddie Murphy is heading to CBS.

our editor recommends

Eddie Murphy, Shawn Ryan Shopping 'Beverly Hills Cop' TV Series

Eddie Murphy in 'Beverly Hills Cop 4': Director Isn't Giving Up

The first-place network has given a pilot production commitment to Beverly Hills Cop, a sequel of sorts to the blockbuster film trilogy that starred Murphy as a Detroit cop working in Beverly Hills, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The Last Resort executive producer Shawn Ryan will serve as showrunner on the Sony Pictures Television dramedy, which centers on Axel Foley's son, Aaron, a cop working in Beverly Hills as he does his part to escape his famous father's shadow. Murphy will reprise his role as the wise-cracking detective in the pilot and could recur should the project go to series.

The potential series is described as an hourlong crime procedural with comedic elements, with Ryan (The Shield, The Chicago Code) on board to pen the script and executive produce along with his MiddKid Productions partner Marney Hochman and Murphy.

STORY: Eddie Murphy, Shawn Ryan Shopping 'Beverly Hills Cop' TV Series

The project comes nearly a year after Murphy confirmed there wouldn't be a fourth film in the series, which collected more than $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office. Murphy first hinted that a small-screen Beverly Hills Cop story might be in the works in a November interview with Rolling Stone.

"What I'm trying to do with Beverly Hills Cop now is produce a TV show starring Axel Foley's son, and Axel is the chief of police now in Detroit," he said at the time. "I'd do the pilot, show up here and there. None of the movie scripts were right; it was trying to force this premise. If you have to force something, you shouldn't be doing it. It was always a rehash of the old thing. It was always wrong."

For CBS, the project seems like a natural fit with the network's bread and butter of crime procedurals, which include CSI, CSI: NY, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles and its upcoming Sherlock Holmes series, Elementary. In addition, it's keeping with the network's interest in luring film stars to the small screen. This fall, Dennis Quaid will make his TV series-regular debut in CBS' period drama Vegas. Meanwhile, the network also is circling a comedy starring Oscar winner Robin Williams, which would mark his return to TV nearly 35 years after Mork & Mindy helped make him a star.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit