Netflix Is Making a Top Gun-Style Police Helicopter Thriller

Think Top Gun—but swapped for sirens and city skylines. Netflix has quietly put a fresh action picture into development called Helo, a police-helicopter thriller that sources say will marry gritty cop drama with adrenaline-fueled aerial set pieces.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Andrés Baiz—best known for his work on Narcos, Narcos: Mexico and the limited series Griselda—will direct. Production comes through Edward Berger’s Nine Hours banner, with Berger and his producing partner Luke Riott shepherding the project to the streamer.

Plot details remain deliberately sparse. What’s clear is the creative DNA: Berger and Riott brought the seed idea to Netflix, which then tapped Patrick Aison (whose credits include work on the Predator franchise) to shape the screenplay. The brief that’s circulated around town describes Helo as a reinvention of the police-helicopter subgenre—closer to the moral realism of End of Watch than a straight-up aviation spectacle, yet carrying the cinematic heft and kinetic choreography audiences associate with Top Gun.

Baiz isn’t new to Netflix collaborations. He’s directed multiple episodes across the Narcos universe, helmed the entirety of Griselda starring Sofía Vergara, and contributed episodes to the streamer’s Sandman adaptation. He also recently wrapped another Netflix feature, Fight for 84, a biographical boxing drama starring Jamie Foxx written by Andy Weiss and expected to debut on the service in 2027.

So what might Helo look like on screen? Imagine low-light patrols cutting through glass-and-concrete canyons, the camera tethered to a rotor blade as investigations spill into impossible vertical chases. Dialogue and character work will likely sit close to the ground—raw, urgent—while the aircraft sequences provide the sort of elevated spectacle that draws eyes to the sky.

For Netflix, Helo fits a broader bet: the streamer is doubling down on high-concept action movies that can deliver both box-office-sized thrills and character-led stakes. Whether Helo becomes the new benchmark for police aviation thrillers or simply a high-flying diversion depends on casting, choreography and whether the screenplay can balance pulse-pounding set pieces with believable moral friction.

Who will end up in the pilot’s seat? Casting announcements are expected once the script takes final shape. Until then, the project’s blend of Baiz’s gritty instincts and Berger’s cinematic pedigree makes Helo one of the more intriguing action developments on Netflix’s slate.