‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Poster Teases That the Cast Might No Longer Be Cops

NBC released the first poster for the eighth and final season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine earlier this week, teasing the return of the entire main cast for one last ride. However, that ride might not be in a police cruiser. The poster notably does not show a single member of the cast wearing a police uniform, including Adre Braugher’s Capt. Raymond Holt. Terry Crews, who stars as Lt. Terry Jeffords, revealed last year that the first four scripts for Season 8 were tossed after the nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice last year. Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 8 debuts on Thursday, Aug. 12 at 8 p.m. ET.

The poster shows the core cast standing dramatically in front of the Brooklyn Bridge. Aside from Crews and Braugher, the poster features Andy Samberg as Jake Peralta, Stephanie Beatriz as Rosa Diaz, Melissa Fumero as Amy Santiago, Joe Lo Truglio as Charles Boyle, Joel McKinnon Miller as Scully, and Dirk Blocker as Hitchcock. Holt’s beloved corgi Cheddar is also prominently featured. The tag line reads, “One last ride. (Title of your sex tape.)”

None of the cast members are shown wearing police uniforms, notes TVLine. While the Nine-Nine detectives rarely ever wear uniforms during the show, Holt is almost always depicted wearing one in publicity material. In fact, the only reference to the New York Police Department anywhere on the poster is the logo on Hitchcock’s mug. “Jake and the squad must try to balance their personal lives and their professional lives over the course of a very difficult year,” reads the season’s logline.

Following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, some television viewers questioned how Brooklyn Nine-Nine could possibly continue as a comedy about police officers. In June 2020, Crews told Access Hollywood that the writers had four episodes completely written, but they were thrown in the trash after Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement.

In July 2020, Samberg told PEOPLE the cast and crew were “taking a step back” before preparing a final season for Nine-Nine. “We’re taking a step back, and the writers are all rethinking how we’re going to move forward, as well as the cast,” Samberg told the magazine. “We’re all in touch and kind of discussing how you make a comedy show about police right now, and if we can find a way of doing that that we all feel morally okay about.” The star, who also serves as an executive producer, said it will be “definitely a challenge” to figure out how the show moves forward.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine took the entire 2020-2021 TV season off. The show’s Season 7 finale aired back in April 2020. The season ended with Peralta and Santiago welcoming their baby, who was named Mac in honor of Die Hard‘s John McClane. Brooklyn Nine-Nine won two Golden Globes during its first season and has earned Braugher four Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.