Franklin & Bash Season 5 could happen, according to the show's two biggest stars, Mark Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer, if they were able to get the rights to the beloved series back. From 2011 to 2014, Franklin & Bash ran on TNT, telling the story of two streetwise attorneys, Jared Franklin and Peter Bash.
While the series was canceled over a decade ago, it has found new life on Netflix, as all four seasons of the hit crime drama are now available on the service in the U.S. Since the show went off the air, fans have been clamoring for its return, begging for a potential Season 5 to see the light of day at some point.
Franklin & Bash Season 5 has not been deemed an impossibility by the show's creative team; however, it would take one major thing for it to happen: stars Mark Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer getting the rights back.
In 2016, Gosselaar revealed he would love to do more of the series, telling Cinema Blend, "We have to do a reboot of Franklin & Bash:"
I’d love to do a Netflix series for 'Franklin & Bash.' Breckin would be on board for that too. Actually, I’m working with the showrunner, creator of Franklin & Bash on my Fox thing, Kevin Falls, who was on West Wing and Journeyman, and I actually said to him, I said, we have to do a reboot of 'Franklin & Bash.' He’s on board."
He followed this up in 2022, adding that he and his fellow co-star Meyer had been in contact about some opportunities and were "trying to find something to do together" (via Telltale TV):
"Breckin [Meyer] and I have remained friends. We’ve developed some things as recently as last year. We had a show that was bought by ABC, not for us, it was just a story about something that happened in our life. And as recent as about three months ago we pitched another show. So we’re always trying to find something to do together."
"We’ve been trying to get the rights to Franklin & Bash," he remarked, admitting that is the only real roadblock holding him back from getting a revival off the ground.
The former Franklin & Bash star knows "there’s story to be told," especially after the cliffhanger ending of Season 4:
"We’ve been trying to get the rights to 'Franklin & Bash.' It’s really frustrating because we know there’s an audience for them; we know there’s story to be told. We left that show on a cliffhanger and that was not our intention to end the show like that. We thought we were coming back next season. We’ll try to get it again. We would love to get it up and running in some capacity."
Franklin & Bash is currently owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment (the original studio behind the legal drama). All four seasons of the series are now streaming on Netflix, with no plans for a fifth season having been made public yet.
The series follows two attorneys played by Mark Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer who are recruited from the world of high-stakes law to a fledgling rival firm, where their unorthodox courtroom antics prove to be just the thing their firm needed.
Will Franklin & Bash Ever Happen?
After over a decade since Franklin & Bash was abruptly taken off the air, the possibility of a Season 5 may feel out of reach, but it is not impossible. The series has seen something of a revitalization since coming to Netflix in the U.S.
In its first few days on the platform, the hit TNT series made its way into Netflix's U.S. top 10, holding the ninth and 10th positions on September 3 and 4, respectively.
If the series can ride this wave of positive momentum and become a hit on streaming, then it very well could come back in some form one day. Audiences just saw a long-forgotten courtroom drama, Suits, come to Netflix, become a major hit, and get a full-fledged revival because of it.
Sure, it is still early days for Franklin & Bash, but if it continues climbing the ranks, Sony may see the potential in pursuing a fifth season of the show—maybe even at Netflix, with the ongoing partnership between Sony and the streamer.
Until then, though, it is up to people like Mark Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer to keep pushing to bring the series back from the dead.
