Brooklyn Nine-Nine is rewriting its Season 8 storylines in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests.
"Our show-runner Dan Goor, they had four episodes all ready to go and they just threw them in the trash," series star Terry Crews told Access Daily."We have to start over. Right now we don't know which direction it’s going to go in."
The decision was not a spur-of-the-moment judgment by Goor. The cast and crew of the NBC show sat down to discuss how the comedy, which follows on a group of police officers in New York City, can adapt to the changing political and cultural landscape. "We've had a lot of somber talks about it and deep conversations and we hope through this we're going to make something that will be truly groundbreaking this year," Crews stated. "We have an opportunity and we plan to use it in the best way possible."
Despite being a show about police officers, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has not shied away from the mistreatment of African Americans by officers of the law. Season 4's "Moo Moo" followed Sergeant Terry Jeffords (Crews) as he was racially profiled by a white police officer in his own neighborhood.
The news comes a few weeks after the cast and crew of the series made a $100,000 donation to the National Bail Fund Network. "The cast and showrunner of Brooklyn 99 condemn the murder of George Floyd and support the many people who are protesting police brutality nationwide," co-creator Dan Goor wrote on Twitter at the time. "Together we have made a $100,000 donation to the National Bail Fund Network. We encourage you to look up your local bail fund: the National Bail Fund Network is an organization that can lead you to them. #blacklivesmatter."
NBC is not the only network making changes to its programming in response to the protests. Paramount Network canceled the long-running reality TV series Cops a day after its Season 33 premiere was scheduled to air. A similar program, Live PD, was also canceled by A&E network. That show ran for four seasons.
Created in 2013 by Dan Goor and Michael Schur, Brooklyn Nine-Nine stars Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, Stephanie Beatriz, Joe Lo Truglio, Terry Crews, Dirk Blocker and Joel McKinnon Miller.