This one stings a little but all good things must come to an end. It has been announced that the upcoming eighth season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine will be its last. The Andy Samberg-led comedy will not return until the 2021-22 broadcast season and will wrap with a 10-episode order.
The 10-episode renewal is the lowest of its run thus far and the exact date of its return during the 2021-22 broadcast season has yet to be determined. The network decided to delay the return of the series in order to give the beloved and award-winning comedy a proper sendoff. NBC has already set its “midseason” slate as part of a crowded broadcast calendar in April and has, pandemic challenges notwithstanding, the Olympics in the summer. The network didn’t want to dump the show in August because a show that has been on this long with such a loyal fanbase, deserved a better ending.
The series also faced challenges following the Black Lives Matter protests in response to police brutality after the death of George Floyd. Even though the show is a comedy, the writing team wanted time to approach this matter delicately. The writers’ room for season eight, which earned an early renewal more than a year ago, has been going since April to also incorporate how the pandemic impacts first-responders like cops into its storyline.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is NBC’s longest-running comedy but it has only aired three of those seasons on NBC. The series was canceled by Fox after 5 seasons in a bit of a surprise move &, thanks to fan outcry, the series was swooped up by NBC & “un-canceled” 24 hours later. Fox didn’t own the series & it was actually produced out of NBCUniversal so the pickup made since. Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s seventh season averaged 24 million viewers and a 5.1 rating among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-9 demo, counting total audience measurement across various platforms. The series earned a Golden Globe comedy series win in its first year, with Samberg also taking home the trophy for lead actor in a comedy. Andre Braugher also picked up an Emmy nomination for his role as the stoic Captain Holt. The series also stars Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Stephanie Beatriz, Jo Lo Truglio, Dirk Blocker, and Joel McKinnon Miller.
