Andre Braugher, who plays Captain Holt on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, says he has no idea what season 8 of the show will be after Black Lives Matter protests.
Andre Braugher, who plays Captain Holt on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, says he has no idea what season 8 of the show will be after the Black Lives Matter protests. Created by The Office alum Michael Schur and Parks and Rec producer Dan Goor, Brooklyn Nine-Nine follows a group of police officers working in the fictional 99th precinct of the New York City borough. Andy Samberg plays the lead role of Detective Jake Peralta, while Braugher plays the straight man of the precinct as the serious Captain Holt. The show ran for five seasons on Fox before being canceled, was then quickly revived by NBC. The network produced season 6 and season 7 and will air the upcoming season 8.
Despite being a comedy, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has tackled several social issues, including an episode where a white police officer profiles officer Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) because he is black. In light of the summer's Black Lives Matter protests, which brought police brutality and racial profiling to the forefront of the national conversation, Crews revealed that Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 8's first four episodes were scrapped to reflect the real situation properly. But the show's stars still have little idea of how the BLM protests will be reflected on the show.
Speaking to Variety in a wide-ranging interview, Braugher admits that while he knows the show will tackle the protests, he has "no idea" what the storylines will be, given that "everything's changed." The former star of Homicide: Life on the Street adds that season 8 will either be "groundbreaking" or a total failure if the episodes "fall flat." He ends by saying that Brooklyn Nine-Nine must reflect reality and tell the kinds of stories that have traditionally been reserved for "grittier" cop dramas. You can read his full comments below:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine has to commit itself, as a comedy, to telling the story of how these things happen, and what’s possible to deal with them. I don’t have any easy answers, nor do I have a window into the mind bank of this writing staff. Can you tell the same story? Can anyone in America maintain any kind of innocence about what police departments are capable of? It might mean that Holt is a staunch defender of the NYPD, or that he tries to burn the whole thing down. I know that he is a pragmatic man; I do know that he’s a loving, robotic person. I’m anxious to see what that’s all about, and I have no idea what Season 8 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is going to be, because everything’s changed. Can a comedy sustain the things that we’re trying to talk about? I don’t know. It could be a really groundbreaking season that we’re all going to be very, very proud of, or we’re going to fall flat on our face. … But I think this is a staff, a cast and a crew that’s willing to take it on and give it our best. I think we have a damn good chance to tell the kinds of stories that heretofore have only been seen on grittier shows.
This isn't the first time Braugher has spoken out about season 8, saying in late August that Brooklyn Nine-Nine (and Hollywood) have to destroy the myth about cops in America. In the Variety interview, he admits he is part of that myth-making, saying by playing a series of police officers on TV, he's "fallen prey to the mythology that’s been built up" around police officers, and re-iterates that all cop shows are going to have to address that now.
Braugher's had time to think about his role in popular culture and is now attempting to rectify that. Hopefully, his thoughts are heard, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 8 can balance the need to remain a comedy while also reflecting the fact that many of the people who watch the show have now realized police officers in America aren't what they've been told they are.
Whether fans are willing to accept a healthy dose of gritty reality along with the usually goofy sitcom is another matter entirely, and is why Braugher seems hesitant to say whether he thinks season 8 will be successful or not. However, given the public comments from its stars, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is going to have to confront the reality of policing in America in season 8, regardless of whether they believe they can pull it off or not.
Source: Variety
