In December 2018, Bill Lawrence's Doozer Productions signed an eight-figure five-year overall deal with Warner Bros. Television. In August 2021, the two studios announced the development of Bad Monkey, a 10-episode drama series based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Carl Hiaasen, with Vince Vaughn starring and Apple TV+ distributing. In December 2021, Michelle Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Meredith Hagner joined the cast. In January 2022, Ana Villafañe, Rob Delaney, Ahmed Elhaj, Arturo Luis Soria, and Alex Moffat were added to the cast. In March 2022, Natalie Martinez was cast as a series regular to replace Villafañe because, according to Deadline Hollywood, "the character had been written older than Villafañe's age, leading to the decision to replace her." In April, L. Scott Caldwell and Charlotte Lawrence were reported to star, with Ronald Peet taking over Elhaj's role. In June, it was announced John Ortiz had been cast to replace Soria in the series.
