Ernie Hudson is the first actor to join the pilot Gabrielle Union’s Bad Boys television spinoff.

After landing at NBC after an intense bidding war, and receiving a pilot commitment at the network, the potential series was officially ordered as a pilot earlier this month.

Now, the only thing next is for NBC deciding to order it to series, which should be announced later in the year after the pilot has been filmed.

The series would see Union reprising her character, Special Agent Sydney “Syd” Burnett from the second Bad Boys film. Burnett was an undercover DEA operative and sister of Martin Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett and love interest for Will Smith’s Mike Lowrey.

Her status in the show: “Syd Burnett, last seen in Miami taking down a drug cartel, now is an LAPD detective and can pursue all the pleasures Los Angeles has to offer and leave her past behind. But things will get complicated when her new partner, Nancy McKenna, learns that Syd’s unapologetic lifestyle might be masking a greater personal secret.”

Hudson will play Joseph Burnett, Syd’s father.

The key role of Nancy McKenna, Syd’s partner, has yet to be cast.

The project is from Jerry Bruckheimer and Doug Belgrad and Sony Pictures TV Studios is the studio.

The spinoff is being written by NBC’s The Blacklist writers and producers Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier.

A third film itself, Bad Boys 3, has been in development for some time, and Belgrad was one of the financiers. Just a few months ago Lawrence said he believed the movie wasn’t going to happen.