In early 2013,
CBS ordered a pilot with
Brandon T. Jackson starring as Axel Foley's son, Aaron. The hourlong crime drama was produced by the critically acclaimed writer
Shawn Ryan, who created
The Shield and
The Chicago Code. In May 2013, however, CBS decided to pass on the
Beverly Hills Cop TV series. In February 2015, Eddie Murphy stated that his cameo appearance in the pilot ironically doomed the show's chances: "I was gonna be in the pilot, and they thought I should be recurring. I'm not gonna do
Beverly Hills Cop on TV. I remember when they tested it — 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." In 2019, Murphy reiterated this statement: The reason that didn't get picked up was because [the studio] thought that I was going to be in this show, because [the lead] was my son: "And you're going to pop in every now and then". I was like, "I ain't popping in shit". "Well, we ain't making this TV show". I was in the pilot, but they wanted me to be there every week. The pilot was really good. It tested where they have these knobs [that you] turn if you like it. And whenever I came on the screen, Axel Foley would come on the screen, they turned it so they literally broke the knobs on the thing. It was like, "Damn, they breaking knobs?" ==
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F==