You might remember that we had a friend who worked on the pilot for The Beast, Partick Swayze’s newest TV show. That news happened to coincide with news that Swayze had pancreatic cancer, throwing the project into limbo as everyone waited to see what happened with his condition.

Good news on that front: A&E has picked up The Beast for 13 episodes that will start filming this summer, once again in Chicago. The show has a tentative premiere set for early 2009.

Beast centers on an unorthodox but effective FBI veteran (Swayze) who trains a new partner (Travis Fimmel, formally Tarzan) in his hard-edged, psychologically clever style while being pursued by a secret Internal Affairs team.

Patrick released a statement (Read More…), but neglected to mention his health, forcing THR reporters to clear him with his doctors: Swayze is healthy enough to make The Beast for A&E!

Writes link-a-phobic THR:

“I have searched for quite a long time to find a character that is this mutilayered, unpredictable and downright entertaining as well as a project this current and cutting-edged,” [Swayze] said.

John Romano will serve as showrunner/executive producer on “Beast.” Allan Loeb, Steven Pearl and Cory Concoff also are exec producing. The pilot was written by William Rotko and Vincent Angell, who also will co-executive produce, and directed by Michael Dinner.

A&E has been making a push into original scripted series under senior vp drama programming Tana Nugent Jamieson. “Beast” marks A&E’s second original scripted drama series in six years, following the Benjamin Bratt starrer “The Cleaner,” which debuts July 15.