Last year, Beverly Hills Cop was supposed to be a lock to make CBS’ fall schedule. The Shield creator, Shawn Ryan was attached as an executive producer and Axel Foley himself, Eddie Murphy was said to be attached to the series as a recurring guest star. Brandon T. Jackson would have headlined the series as Axel Foley Jr., according to CBS.
However, Murphy’s participation with the proposed Beverly Hills Cop TV show may have been exaggerated. While speaking with Playboy, Murphy explained why the television series never happened and added “I was gonna be in the pilot, and they thought I should be recurring. I’m not gonna do Beverly Hills Cop on TV.”
Murphy went on to recall the testing phase for the completed pilot episode at CBS. “They had this little knob that you turn if you like it or you don’t like it. So when Axel shows up in the pilot, some people turned the knob so much, they broke it. So the network decided ‘if he isn’t recurring, then this isn’t gonna happen.’ So it didn’t happen.”
Related: Beverly Hills Cop Returns in 2016
However, Murphy’s reprisal of Axel Foley sparked a renewed interest in Beverly Hills Cop 4. But while that film was supposedly set to begin production next month, Murphy said “I don’t think it’s gonna happen in March, but it is gonna be in Detroit. And before it happens, they’ve got to get that script right. That movie has to be right.”
“The third Beverly Hills Cop was garbage,” continued Murphy. “Those movies, when I travel overseas, people say [in a foreign accent] ‘Hey, Beverly Hills Cop! Axel Foley!’ They call me that s**t. All the movies I’ve done, and they call me that. If we do that movie, it has to be right. Not just thrown together to get a big check. I don’t need anymore of those.”
Beverly Hills Cop 4 is currently slated to be released on March 25, 2016.
