Kick-ass and ready to go! Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba have teamed up for new series L.A.’s Finest. The fierce new show, which is available on Spectrum On Demand, is a spin-off of Union’s Bad Boys II’s character Syd and revolves around two female detectives who live very different lives but are at the top of their game. “Gab created the show,” Alba shared with Ryan Seacrest on-air on Tuesday, May 14. “It is an action-packed show with sexy, awesome chicks who are grown and partnered up in L.A. We are detectives. We are keeping these street’s safe and we are also trying to figure out our partnership and navigate through our own sorted paths,” she added. “We both have these mysterious juicy backstories.” Union portrays Sydney "Syd" Burnett, who was introduced taking down a drug cartel in Bad Boys II, and Alba portrays her partner, working mom Nancy McKenna.<doc-sep>LOS ANGELES — Expanding a comic book’s mythology can bring slighted characters to the forefront. That is also the case with “L.A.’s Finest”, a TV series riff on the 2003 “Bad Boys II” movie in which women, notably women of color, are driving the action. Gabrielle Union pursued the idea of reprising Syd Burnett, her character from the film who is on a new path as a Los Angeles police detective, with Jessica Alba joining her as detective Nancy McKenna. They are also in charge behind the camera, as executive producers on the series debuting Monday, May 13, on the new Spectrum on-demand platform. ADVERTISEMENT It is a measure, they say, of hard-won confidence in what they can do and in their value, despite entrenched resistance from the entertainment industry. Both are entrepreneurs outside of Hollywood — Alba with her baby and home products company, and Union with a fashion line. When the two joined to talk about the series, they expanded the discussion to how newcomers such as Spectrum have created opportunities that were being dribbled out by broadcast networks. Who’s the boss? Union: [There is] a pleasure in Jessica and I both being executive producers and creating a show where [it is] not one bad-ass woman but two bad-ass women, and two bad-ass women of color who are not only bosses in real life but bosses in front of and behind the camera. And for us to both be executive producers and to have a major say-so of what goes into the show and the experience in making the show, is by far one of the most rewarding and fulfilling things of my career. Alba: We got to create an environment that we [had not] ever been part of, or we [have not] seen ourselves in Hollywood over our 20 years-plus experience in the business. When [Union] asked me to be part of the show, I said, “[Here is] some table stakes. [I am] breastfeeding my newborn son, I have a 7- and 10-year-old, and I never want to feel weird or awkward about them being part of my life. They will come to set, and that needs to be cool with everyone. And if [it is] not, then this [is not] the show that I should be part of.” We always tried to be as effective and efficient as possible, but then also have a really supportive community where people’s families can come to set. Right place, right time Alba: When the story originally was being developed for a network, they very much wanted to fit us inside of these buckets or stereotypes, while we wanted to break out of those boundaries. At Spectrum, the women running the network really wanted us just to create the best show, and in that, we got to create cool characters that have rich lives. [They are] flawed. [They are] complicated. They [do not] always agree. [They are] not competitive. They complement each other. But they also have fun and [they are] funny and [they are] witty and [they are] girls that you want to like grab a beer with or a shot of tequila with or cry with. And you just [do not] get to see women in this way. Union: A lot of networks in the last few years have talked a big game about wanting diversity and inclusion — “We want shows headed by women, we want strong female leads.” And the proof is in the pudding, and that pudding is a little thin. But what you see on cable and streaming is people who actually walk the walk and talk the talk, and they put the money and resources behind developing, creating and actually putting on air shows with not one but two women, and two women of color who are allowed to be full-bodied, multi-dimensional characters. [That has] really never happened in any sort of meaningful way on network television. Let us entertain you ADVERTISEMENT Alba: If we grandstand and say, “Hey, [we are] in this show and because [we are] women of color, you should tune in, [that is] bull. We [do not] care about that. [You are] tuning in because [it is] cool and it works. The storylines work. [They are] rich. [They are] interesting, [They are] mysterious. The jokes are funny. [They are] not corny or cheesy. And [we are] not relying on any sort of stereotypical thing out there to get by. If [it is] successful or not, we all can look around and I think we can be really proud of what [we have] produced. Home improvement Union: If creatives are not getting the same respect — creatively, financially, structurally — [it is] not real advancement. [We are] trying to say, “[I am] not begging for a seat at your table, where my chair is a rickety lawn chair, where you guys have Lazy Boys and [I am] begging for scraps.” Actually, I [do not] even want to be at this table, I [do not] want to be in this house. [We are] going to build our own house, with comfortable chairs and with enough room for everyone, so all of our stories, all of us in a global community, can see ourselves reflected. And all of us are respected in every sense of what that word means. CE/JB RELATED STORIES: LOOK: Actress Jessica Alba pregnant with 3rd child LOOK: Gabrielle Union captures sweet moment of Dwyane Wade, daughter Read Next<doc-sep>Bad girls, bad girls, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? No, you did not read those lyrics wrong. The familiar chorus from TV’s “Cops,” referenced in the hit Will Smith-Martin Lawrence buddy cop “Bad Boys” films, is the one that needs a rewrite now that Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba are juicing up the “Bad Boys” franchise, teaming up for the spinoff “L.A.’s Finest” as detectives in pursuit of some of L.A.’s baddest. The series, which kicks off Charter Communications’ premium content initiative, Spectrum Originals, on May 13, is also a career landmark for Union and Alba, who have dozens of film and TV credits between them. Coming together on a recent afternoon at a West Los Angeles hotel suite, Union and Alba repeatedly key in on one word — “badass” — to define their on- and off-screen partnership. They find it particularly gratifying to be starring in a TV action drama. “A lot of studios and networks shy away from making grown women sexy, action heroes — we get stuck in Hollywood when you’re 25,” Union says as she sits near Alba. “That’s when they think you’re at your most sexy, most viable. I’m 46, and I’ve never made more money and never had more options and never lived a bigger, better and more full, thoroughly enjoyable life. And I found a partner in Jess, who also has a life outside Hollywood that is bigger, dare I say, and more fulfilling, and amazing. In our fullness and our dopeness and peak sexiness — I think we’re still peaking — happens not in spite of, but because of, our full-ass womanness.” Advertisement “L.A.’s Finest” marks Alba’s return to the entertainment spotlight, eight years after departing Hollywood to found the Honest Co., a successful consumer goods company specializing in beauty and babies. The actress, who has been performing since she was 13 and made a splash at age 18 as Max, the genetically engineered human prototype in Jim Cameron’s futuristic “Dark Angel,” is also the mother of three children with her husband, producer Cash Warren. RELATED: Hollywood working moms and the brutal conflict between family and career » Meanwhile, Union, a steady presence for the last two decades in TV and film (“Bring It On,” “Being Mary Jane,” “Deliver Us From Eva”), is positioning the series as part of her strategy to extend her business and Hollywood profile. In addition to producing TV and film projects, Union has joined the judging panel on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” and has started a clothing and baby product line with New York & Co. She is married to just-retired NBA star Dwayne Wade and is stepmother to his three children from previous relationships. The couple also have a 6-month-old daughter. In reviving her “Bad Boys II” character Sydney “Syd” Burnett for “L.A.’s Finest,” Union wanted to pair with someone who could empathize with her personal journey as a parent. “While shooting the pilot, I had just shot an embryo in our surrogate,” Union says. “We were creating a world for Jessica that I was hoping for myself. So I needed someone who was going to be on board with a new way of filming, a new way of doing Hollywood.” After production began, Union says, “My baby’s due literally in the middle of the season, and came early. I needed someone who was going to have my back. And there’s one Jessica Alba.” Ultimate ‘action chick’ Gabrielle Union, left, and Jessica Alba in a scene from Spectrum Originals’ “L.A. 's Finest.” (Erica Parise / Spectrum Originals) “L.A’s Finest” lands as a TV milestone — the first time two women of color have starred in an hour-long action drama. Advertisement Alba is hoping the series alters the industry’s perspective on women past 30 and the action genre. “At one time, there was only one ‘Dark Angel,’ one ‘Alias’ and 50 other things that were so completely not that,” she says. “Hopefully, there is more equality now, and we won’t have to sit here and be the first and only show where there are two women starring in an action series.” Produced by Sony Pictures Television and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions, the force behind the “Bad Boys” films, “L.A.’s Finest” maintains the “Bad Boys” formula of mixing humor with explosions, constant action and peril. And while the show functions as a stand-alone project, it also serves as an appetizer for the third “Bad Boys” film, which reunites Smith and Lawrence and is scheduled for release next year. Advertisement In the new series, Union’s Syd — an undercover DEA agent who was the sister of Det. Lt. Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) and girlfriend of his partner, Mike Lowrey (Smith) — is now single with a very active and adventurous sex life, though troubled by demons from her past. She’s relocated to Los Angeles from Miami and has joined forces with Det. Nancy McKenna (Alba), a happily married wife and stepmother of a teenage daughter who has some dark secrets of her own. Union and her manager approached Bruckheimer last year about building a series around Syd. The producer, who at the time was grappling with the possibility of another “Bad Boys,” was instantly intrigued. “Jerry thought our idea was actually genius — he said we could build a whole world around Syd,” Union says. Actresses Jessica Alba, left, and Gabrielle Union (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) Advertisement But the question quickly arose — who would Union team up with? The actress thought of Alba, who had just given birth to her third child. “Who do you come up with when you’re thinking about an action chick?” asks Union. “Who can come in and be a badass without a learning curve? There’s only one Jessica. So I just begged her. ‘I know you’re a little busy right now creating this human being and you have this massive company. But is this something that would even interest you?’” The two were already friends. “I’ve been seeing her over the years,” Union says.<doc-sep>Union: “I haven’t been on network television on a very long time. In cable and streaming, it’s not a note that I have gotten in a very long time. Back when I was on network TV — yes. If you were a person of color, if they were trying to create a certain kind of woman, that word had to be used over and over and over and over again. Because the alternative was you were going to be the sassy, asexual, Confucius-Yoda friend. So you might want to lean into the likable because they tend to write more for the likable one. The sassy Yoda friend is the first one who is going to die when the monster comes.”<doc-sep>
Few shows on television feature woman leads that are also people of color — and even fewer in the action drama genre. Jessica Alba, Gabrielle Union, and the showrunners behind Charter’s Spectrum Originals maiden program “L.A.’s Finest” wanted that to change. The new series is a spinoff of the Will Smith and Martin Lawrence franchise “Bad Boys.” This time around, the two “bad boys” are now women of color. Union, who first signed onto the project, wanted Alba to co-star. “She’s boss as f—k. She’s badass as f—k,” Union told Variety at the premiere afterparty in Los Angeles. Aside from her admiration of Alba’s “badassery,” Union thought it “means the world” to share lead roles with another WOC. She asked rhetorically, “If we’re only covering or reflecting a very, very small slice of life, who is it for?” Alba told Variety that an action series led by two non-white women is “unprecedented.” She said, “Usually we’re the token something — girlfriend, bad girl, side piece. And women in the action genre are usually pretty one note.” But L.A.’s Finest is different, according to the actress. “They wrote us like real people,” she said. Union said the show flips the genre’s traditional gender roles. “We’re not saved by anybody. We’re the ones saving people. We got to be the action heroes, comedians, and a little sexy on occasion,” she said. Being cast on the show reminded Alba of her experience getting her breakthrough role in Fox’s “Dark Angel.” Alba reminisced, “James Cameron was like, ‘I’m going to hire a 17-year-old Mexican white girl to be the star of my one hour sci-fi action drama.’ That was unprecedented too.” Co-showrunner Brandon Margolis discussed with Variety how groundbreaking it was growing up to see two black cops in the original 1995 movie. He said of the spinoff, “It’s not the same universe to me if they are not actors of color. That’s the DNA of what made those movies special.” Co-showrunner Brandon Sonnier told Variety that the “two kickass female diverse leads” is what makes the show special. Sonnier said from day one on set Union and Alba’s chemistry “harkened back to the ‘Bad Boy’ films. The films we love.” The actresses have been friends for years. Union has fond memories with Alba coming up in the industry. “We were always those girls at the bar at Hollywood events cracking jokes. So I knew we were cut from the same clothes,” said Union. “L.A.’s Finest” will premiere May 13 on Charter’s Spectrum.