"Brooklyn Nine-Nine" Season 8 Has Been Delayed Until 2021

Probably not quite the time for funny cops anyway.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed its latest victim: your ability to find some humour in the world courtesy of the zany antics at Brooklyn’s ninety-ninth police precinct.

NBC has delayed the debut of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s eighth season as a result of the toll COVID-19 has taken on Hollywood productions, which had to shutter to meet safety regulations in California.

The eighth season was meant to kick-off in September, like the first five seasons did on Fox. It would have been the first to debut in the American autumn since the show moved to NBC (Seasons 6 and 7 both debuted at the start of the year). However, it’s not simply the pandemic that has producers of the show on the backfoot; the recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations, protesting the excessive and racist use of police force against Black men and women, led the B99 team to scrap the first four episodes of the season, not quite knowing how to proceed.

The cast and showrunner, Dan Goor, donated $US100,000 to the National Bail Fund Network in June to "condemn the murder of George Floyd and support the many people who are protesting police brutality nationally." However, there’s no question that the diverse and empathetic comedy is still at odds with the current global mood, especially given the even more recent shooting of Jacob Blake.

While Brooklyn Nine-Nine shouldn’t be condemned for presenting likable cops who do good work, it makes sense that the writers and stars would want to sensitively address this fraught moment in time, and in fact they'll need to as it progresses into a lasting movement.

Andre Braugher, who plays Captain Raymond Holt, said as much to EW, stating that police need to be "portrayed much more realistically, in terms of this: The convention ... that police breaking the law is okay because somehow it's in the service of some greater good, is a myth that needs to be destroyed."

Though we don’t know when Season 8 will debut in Australia (you'll find it first on SBS on Demand), it will be sometime after 1 January 2020. In the meantime, the first six seasons are available to stream on Netflix, with Season 7 dropping… soon?

There’s also this French-Canadian remake that… oh no, recast Santiago and Diaz as white.

Header Image: NBC