Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | News | October 16, 2025
MGM+ announced yesterday that it would be shooting a Bosch prequel next year starring Cameron Monaghan (Shameless) as a young Bosch during his rookie days and Omari Hardwick as a veteran officer named Eli Bridges.
I like Bosch (as a Dad of a certain age, it’s obligatory), I like the Michael Connelly book series upon which it’s based, and I like Cameron Monaghan — although it’s hard to imagine him as a young Bosch. But all of that is beside the point. The more depressing thing here is what a cynical ploy this all is.
The original Bosch with Titus Welliver ran for seven seasons. It was very popular. But after seven seasons, things start to get more expensive: the cast and crew are entitled under union rules to receive pay bumps after each successive season. Amazon — one of the largest corporations in America, owned by one of its richest men — decided to get around that pay bump by spinning Bosch off into Bosch: Legacy. It features some of the same actors (and others make periodic appearances), only now Bosch is retired and working as a private investigator while his daughter has joined the force.
Importantly, however, the new title effectively allowed Amazon to reset contracts and avoid the automatic pay increases that come with additional seasons. And after Bosch: Legacy got too expensive, they created another spin-off, Ballard, which also occasionally features Titus Welliver’s character.
To be clear: Titus Welliver didn’t want to end Bosch. The show was very popular on Prime Video — so popular that it has now spawned three spin-offs, including the prequel, which will be called Start of Watch.
But there’s an added layer of bullshit here: Bosch, Bosch: Legacy, and Ballard all streamed on Prime Video. But you may have noticed that MGM+ will be streaming Start of Watch. Amazon owns MGM+, and while it has a decent back catalog of films (and the rights to Bond), so far the streamer hasn’t produced a major breakout hit (From is about as close as it has come).
So now they’re using a Bosch prequel not only to avoid paying the rising costs of a show everyone was happy to keep watching, but to drive subscriptions to MGM+, forcing Bosch fans to sign up for yet another streamer to get their fix. It’s a deeply cynical ploy - but it’s all perfectly within bounds.
