baywatch

The ’90s favorite is returning to TV in a new series.

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There was no jocularity on Baywatch when I was a child. These brave men and women in red bathing suits were doing very important things, like guarding lives, performing CPR, running in slow-motion, and occasionally starting totally random spinoff shows featuring sea monsters. The new Baywatch movie is a new breed of ‘watch. These guys do joke around, constantly. It’s Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron as mismatched partners on the lifeguard scene, joking about one another’s testicles, performing highly unprofessional autopsies, and even arguing over severed limbs. Seriously: Not your Hasselhoff’s Baywatch.

Dwayne Johnson’s Baywatch movie is almost upon us, and as an extra incentive, the film debuted a new trailer today that focuses on Priyanka Chopra’s extremely fashionable villain.

It’s weird — with every new trailer, the upcoming big-screen reboot of beloved ‘90s TV series Baywatch appears to get a little bit better. The first trailer promised a lightly amusing clone of the smart-alecky 21 Jump Street reboot, the second trailer advertised a competently-produced action tentpole with a healthy sprinkling of meta humor, and now, the so-called “official” trailer (does that make the first two unofficial?) teases what appears to be a sincerely funny comedy. At the very least, whoever cut this thing made it abundantly clear that stars Zac Efron and Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson have more chemistry than an eighth-grade science class.

Some people stand in the darkness. Some people make movie versions of campy ’90s television series about lifeguards. It’s gonna be all right. They’re always ready, they won’t let you out of their sight, etc.

Who watches the Baywatchmen? All of us, okay. We are all going to be watching the Baywatch movie, because, still, none of us can believe it actually exists. It must be seen. It must be experienced. And if you’re just dying to know what we’re all in for, look no further than this teaser Dwayne Johnson posted on his Twitter today, and stay tuned for tomorrow’s first trailer.

You can’t have a Baywatch movie without David Hasselhoff. Just a few weeks ago, Dwayne Johnson confirmed what we all assumed by announcing that the star of the original series would be joining the upcoming film, and now we have photographic evidence. While we wait to find out if his equally iconic co-star Pamela Anderson will also be making an appearance in the Baywatch movie, enjoy this set of photos featuring the Hoff and his new pals.

Baywatch doesn’t hit theaters until next summer, so it’s going to be quite a while before we see the first trailer or official photos. Thankfully, Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron are pretty fond of Instagram, and the pair have been sharing lots of images from the set, including our first looks at co-stars Kelly Rohrbach, Priyanka Chopra and Ilfenesh Hadera. If nothing else, the R-rated comedy has a diverse cast and they all look like they’re having a blast.