The “cop show” genre has been around television for decades, and it’s one of those evergreen story basics that can be mined for show after show. And now, one of TV’s most basic genres is being blended with one of TV’s most popular trends: adaptation. Television is big on bringing popular films and even old TV shows into the small screen nowadays, so it should come as no surprise that Warner Bros. Television is developing a TV series based on Antoine Fuqua’s 2001 cop drama Training Day.
Per Deadline, it was Fuqua himself who brought the idea to WBTV, and he has enlisted Jerry Bruckheimer and his Jerry Bruckheimer TV banner to executive produce. Will Beall, who penned Gangster Squad and an early draft of Justice League, will write the script while Fuqua will executive produce and likely direct the pilot.
David Ayer wrote the screenplay for the 2001 feature, which revolved around a rookie LAPD cop (Ethan Hawke) who goes on a day-long training course with a dirty narcotics detective (Denzel Washington). The film won Washington his second Oscar and launched the careers of Ayer and Fuqua.
The TV series is being shopped to the Big 4 broadcast networks, which means it likely won’t be a cable TV series. The story takes place in present day, 15 years after the events of the film, and may switch the races of the two main characters. Fuqua has been on a directing tear as of late, helming Olympus Has Fallen, The Equalizer, and Southpaw within the span of three years. He’s currently in production on The Magnificent Seven for release in 2016, which means he’ll have released a new movie every year since 2013.
As this project no doubt has some heat on it, look to find out which network wins out very soon.
