In a new interview with Access Hollywood, Terry Crews revealed that the writers of NBC’s hit cop sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine have scrapped everything they had written for the show’s upcoming eighth season. The global outcry around America’s policing system has put the show’s lighthearted depiction of a New York City police force in a tough spot, and it sounds like they plan to address the issue head-on.
“Our showrunner, Dan Goor—they had like four episodes all ready to go. They just threw them in the trash,” Crews said in the interview. “They are like, we have to start over. Right now, we don’t know which direction it’s going to go in. But we do know that we had a lot of somber talks, we’ve had a lot of very, very deep conversations, and through this, we hope to bring something that could really, really truly be groundbreaking this year. We have an opportunity here, and we plan to use it in the best, best way possible.”
Following the surge of Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, reforming police departments has become a hot political issue, with a wide range of options on the table about just what needs to be done to halt unjust police killings that disproportionately affect black men and women. Several Brooklyn Nine-Nine stars joined fellow actors who’ve played police officers in shows like Monk and Blue Bloods to donate to Black Lives Matter as a way of showing solidarity with the movement.
