Suicide Squad's David Ayer Turning Hit Movie End of Watch Into FOX Series

By Charlie Ridgely

David Ayer, the director of DC's first Suicide Squad movie back in 2016, is bringing one of his most acclaimed movies to the small screen. End of Watch, the gritty police drama from 2012, represents a hit for Ayer, as many felt it was the film felt like a return to the filmmaker's Training Day roots (Ayer wrote the script for the acclaimed Denzel Washington thriller). Now, 10 years after End of Watch hit theaters, the property is getting the TV treatment.

It was announced on Thursday that FOX has handed a script-to-series commitment to and End of Watch TV project. Ayer is co-writing and executive producing the series alongside David Matthews. Fox Entertainment has ordered a pilot script, a backup script, and a format for the End of Watch series, and the network will make a decision to move forward with a series order based on those scripts.

In addition to Ayer and Matthews, End of Watch is being executive produced by Chris Long, Darryll C. Scott, James Masciello, Andrea Iervolino, and John Lesher. Lesher produced the original End of Watch movie alongside Ayer.

The End of Watch series will follow a similar story to the one featured in the film. The movie starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena as LAPD officers Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala. The partners and friends worked to fight crime in South Los Angeles, eventually running up against criminal forces bigger than they had previously imagined. The film also starred Anna Kendrick, Natalie Martinez, America Ferrera, Frank Grillo, Cody Horn, and David Harbour. End of Watch took in about $58 million at the box office, which doesn't sound like a lot but was actually a massive number compared to its $10 million budget. Ayer wrote, directed, and produced the film.

End of Watch was just Ayer's third directorial effort, following Harsh Times and Street Kings. He eventually branched out from the hard-hitting crime dramas in 2014, with the Brat Pitt-starring war film Fury. Genre films Suicide Squad and Bright came next, with The Tax Collector marking a return to the street-level films the director came up writing.

Do you hope to see End of Watch get picked up to series at FOX? Let us know in the comments!

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