Scott Bakula to Star in CBS Detective Drama in Development

Scott Bakula is set to star in and executive produce an untitled detective drama in early development at CBS.

Deadline reported the project on 8 October 2026 as an exclusive it “has learned”. Bakula would also executive produce, meaning he would help guide the show creatively as well as appear on screen.

Development is the earliest step. It means the network and producers are working up the idea. No pilot has been filmed and no order for a series has been given.

The drama is described as a high-concept detective procedural set in Los Angeles. A procedural is a crime show that solves a new case in each episode. High-concept means one clear, distinctive hook, though Deadline reports no further story details have been released.

The project comes from Electric Entertainment, the production organisation led by Dean Devlin. Deadline reports it would be Electric’s first broadcast show, meaning its first series for a traditional free-to-air US network such as CBS.

Michael Sussman wrote the script and is attached as an executive producer, a senior role that oversees creative decisions and production. Sussman co-created the crime drama Perception. He also worked as a writer-producer on Star Trek: Enterprise.

Bakula has a long history on network television. He headlined the time-travel series Quantum Leap. He later played Special Agent Dwayne Pride in NCIS: New Orleans, which started as a backdoor spinoff, meaning the new team was introduced in an episode of the original NCIS before launching on its own, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

More recently he was cast in the lead role in Unbroken, an NBC drama pilot. A pilot is a single test episode used to decide if a full series goes ahead. The project was reported by Variety in March 2022.

Bakula would lead on screen and behind the scenes. Devlin and Sussman are also attached as executive producers. In television, that credit covers the people who run the show day to day, from hiring writers to approving cuts.

For viewers, this means a wait. Many projects in development never reach the screen. The next steps would be a pilot order, meaning CBS pays for a test episode, or a straight-to-series order, meaning no pilot is shot first and the show goes directly into production. Neither has happened here.

For fans, this means the story is still at the starting line. Scripts come first. Casting, filming dates and a possible air date only follow if the network decides to move forward. That decision often takes months.