According to Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews , the writers working on the popular NBC sitcom have opted to throw out multiple episodes that they already finished writing in favor of starting fresh. Crews spoke with Access Online about the surprising decision, adding that showrunner Dan Goor wanted to rework the upcoming Season 8 in light of the police brutality protests happening around the world.
The America’s Got Talent host said that the writing team already had four episodes of the new season completed but wound up scrapping them entirely.
“We have to start over. Right now we don’t know which direction it’s going to go in.”
Not only have the writers had to reconsider how to approach the new season, but Crews also made it sound as if the actors have been affected, too.
He explained that many people who work on Brooklyn Nine-Nine have had many “somber talks” and “deep conversations” lately about how they’re going to continue making the series.
He expressed hope that the next season would be “truly groundbreaking.”
During the Access Online interview, the 51-year-old actor said he saw the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement as a chance for real change.
“This is an opportunity right now for us all to unite and get together and understand what this is and that we have to battle this together,” he added.
The sitcom tackled police brutality head-on in a past Season 4 episode titled “Moo Moo.”
The decision to rework the next season of the sitcom comes on the heels of Paramount Network and A&E both canceling their popular cop shows, Cops and Live P.D. Since George Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests, hundreds of social media users have called for a reform of how police officers are depicted in the media.
Earlier this month, CNN reported that the cast of the NBC series also donated $100,000 to a bail relief fund for protesters who were arrested. The cast has also been very vocal about supporting the Black Lives Matter movement on their social media accounts.
Aside from Brooklyn Nine-Nine , the comedian also told Access Online about his own experiences as a Black man in America. Crews equated current events to “Black America’s Me Too Movement.”
“We always knew this was happening, but now white people are understanding,” he added.
Crews said he felt that the viral video of Floyd’s death “opened up the world because now you’ve experienced it and you have to go through the same trauma that Black America has been going through.”