Terry Crews On ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Emotional Rollercoaster: ‘No One Knew What Was Happening’

Fans of the popular police sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine had an up-and-down, and some might say rough week, when it was announced by Fox on Thursday that the show would be canceled after five seasons, only to be picked up by NBC less than two days later. That too applied to the long-running series’ stars, including Terry Crews, who opened up to People about what he felt late last week as Brooklyn Nine-Nine was canceled, then rescued within a span of about 30 hours or so.

“It was like horror meets comedy meets twisted science fiction,” Crews recalled on Monday, as he spoke to the publication at a Deadpool fan event in New York City.

“No one knew what was happening. I was working on another show and I got the email that we were canceled. It’s a surreal experience because every show is like a human being — it has its own personality, and when it’s canceled it’s a death. There is mourning.”

Talking about his fellow Brooklyn Nine-Nine cast members, Crews referred to them as his “second family” due to all the time he spent with them working on the show, and described how there were “a lot of tears” that flowed as the cast said their goodbyes to each other on their WhatsApp group after five years working together. According to Crews, the heartbreak was even worse when Hulu, after being considered as a potential new destination for the sitcom, ultimately chose to pass, as reported by TV Line.

"Thanks @terrycrews, the pleasure was all mine!" he said, accepting full-credit while ignoring the 99 gazillion other fans who love this show & collectively really made it happen. #99IsSoFine https://t.co/J9Kpgcssoj

— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) May 12, 2018

It was mostly thanks to fan support that NBC decided to give Brooklyn Nine-Nine another chance and order a 13-episode sixth season for the series. As noted by Vulture, there was a lot of bargaining behind the scenes, as the show’s producers acknowledged the “outpouring of grief” from fans around the world, and tried to negotiate some sort of a deal that would keep the series on television. Crews also touched base on the fact that Brooklyn Nine-Nine had its share of high-profile celebrity fans among those grieving over its cancellation by Fox, including the likes of Mark Hamill, Guillermo Del Toro, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

“It made us feel so good that at least if we don’t come back, we have the love of the world. And then NBC comes through, freaking 30 hours later. … We went out of the frying pan into heaven.”

Although Crews is happy that Brooklyn Nine-Nine has a new home in NBC, where it could potentially be a better fit among the network’s other sitcoms, he admitted to People that he still feels “emotionally drained” after last week’s drama. After all that’s happened so far, Crews said that he’d like to “take the biggest nap you’ve ever seen,” now that the show has at least another season on a new network, with its loyal fanbase relieved that it won’t be the end of an era at Brooklyn’s 99th Precinct after all.