The 2012 series is described as a modern-day romantic love story with a procedural twist, contrasting with the original 1987 series which was more of a romantic drama with mystery and suspense elements.

Beauty & the Beast was the first project developed by network executive Mark Pedowitz after he joined The CW.

The pilot was filmed in Toronto, Canada from March 22 to April 2, 2012, and the series continued filming there before later splitting production between New York City and Toronto starting with season two.

Jay Ryan's character was originally named Vincent Koslow during development, before being changed to Vincent Keller; in the original 1987 series, the character had no last name at all.

Brian White, who played Joe Bishop, was the last actor cast in the main lineup, and his character was written out after season one, with the storyline explaining he lost his job for focusing on finding his brother's killer instead of his police duties.

Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season only a 19% critics' approval rating, while the second season jumped dramatically to 83%.

Critic Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times singled out Nina Lisandrello as the only cast member to receive consistently positive reviews, praising her portrayal of Tess Vargas.

A series of tie-in novels based on the show were written by Nancy Holder and published through Titan Books.