Comic-Con: Brooklyn Nine-Nine Cast On Season 6

The cast and showrunners of now NBC’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine attended San Diego Comic-Con to discuss season six and the behind-the-scenes work across networks.

Cult Fox comedy show Brooklyn Nine-Nine was adored by its fans for five magnificent seasons. The diverse cast which included Latinex, LGBTQIA, and people of colour, along with celebrating the individuality of individuals rather than forcing them to change themselves in order to be expected, is one of the reasons why the show is so beloved.

“Boyle is not afraid to show unadulterated affection. That’s unusual for a male character but it’s something the world needs to see.” @JoeLoTruglio #Brooklyn99 #SDCC

— Stephanie Carr (@StephanieVCarr) July 20, 2018

So when Fox announced earlier this year that it would not be renewing B99 for another season, the world mourned and it wasn’t just every day people who were devastated by the cancellation as many celebrities, including Lin Manuel Miranda and Mark Hamill, expressed their horror that the show was cancelled. Cue the knight in shining armour: NBC. Only a mere 31 hours had passed and NBC announced it would be picking up the show for a 13-episode sixth season.

And the world rejoiced.

This is not an isolated incident: there is a long-running tradition of shows being saved by fan campaigns which dates as far back as Star Trek (other notable inclusions are Community, and Friday Night Lights). Indeed, this year alone, two other popular shows—Lucifer and The Expanse—(both of which I watch along with B99) have been notably ‘saved’ thanks to fan support. However, the speed with which Brooklyn Nine-Nine was picked up, points to an interesting trend which speak to the evolving manner in which content is consumed as people often stream shows subsequent to their initial airing date, suggesting that the metrics by which network executives determine a show’s ‘viability’ may in fact be outdated.

The cast and showrunners (excluding André Braugher) attended their first ever San Diego Comic-Con panel today. There, they reflected upon some of the important moments in the previous seasons as well as offering some tantalising information about the upcoming seasons.

The most moving was the discussion about Rosa’s coming-out storyline, which occurred in season five. Stephanie Beatriz, who plays the wonderfully misanthropic Rosa Diaz, spoke to this, commenting it was in part modelled after her own coming out as bisexual. In her words, “Dan is a person who believes in equality and inclusivity, and that shows in his writers’ room… He wanted a bisexual person’s voice to be heard in that storyline, and it just so happened that the person who’s playing the character they wanted to turn bi is also bi. It was a gift, and I think we did it in an amazing way.”

Indeed, the show has a history giving voice to marginalised individuals in a sensitive and inclusive manner, for which it has been long-praised (the season four episode ‘Moo Moo’ is a worthy example of this, where Terry is racially profiled in his own neighbourhood). Andy Samberg, who plays Jake Peralta, commented that when the show does have a storyline which includes a member from a marginalised community, they “do not want to make a joke of it and give it proper respect.”

Unsurprisingly, he revealed that those episodes about mental health or margianlised communities are the ones which take the most time to write, because they want to ensure they give those episodes the nuance they require to properly respect the stories of these individuals while also showcasing them in a meaningful manner.

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As for what season six has in store for its devoted fans, series creator and showrunnier Dan Good revealed “the writers’ room is up and we are five weeks into our pre-production.” Apparently, a running storyline will be Jake and Amy adapting to life as newlyweds. Of great interest was also the promise of an episode which delves into Norm Hitchcock and Michael Hitchcock, two past-their-prime detectives who nevertheless are a part of the 99 family. Excitingly, we were teased with the promise that we will finally find out whether Kelly was Scully’s dog or wife!

Interestingly, in an earlier interview with Samberg and his co-stars, Melissa Fumero and Jo Lo Truglio, Samberg commented that the censorship standards at NBC are different to those at Fox—“we can bleep and we can blur,” he said, with a gleam of excitement in his eyes. Whether this suggests the script will err toward the cheekier (pun intended), only time will tell, though. He also made a heartfelt plea to Bruce Willis to make a cameo on the show; Samberg and his character both venerate the Die Hard franchise.

Given the miracle of B99 being saved in a record amount of time took place, perhaps the miracle of Bruce Willis gracing our favourite ensemble with his presence too will take place. We can only cross our fingers.