‘SEAL Team’ Star to Lead ‘Rockford Files’ Reboot

The Rockford Files has found its new Jim Rockford.

TV Insider reports that SEAL Team and Bones star David Boreanaz has been tapped to lead the new reboot on NBC.

The network recently gave a pilot order for the new series, a reboot of the James Garner-led detective drama that ran for six seasons in the ‘70s. Boreanaz is starring as James Rockford, the witty and chronically broke private investigator “whose charmingly gruff exterior masked a strong moral core.”

Per NBC, “Newly paroled after doing time for a crime he didn’t commit, James Rockford returns to his life as a private investigator using his charm and wit to solve cases around Los Angeles. It doesn’t take long for his quest for legitimacy to land him squarely in the crosshairs of both local police and organized crime.”

The Rockford Files marks Boreanaz’s first role since starring as Jason Hayes in the military drama SEAL Team, which ended in 2024 after seven seasons. Boreanaz has worked pretty consistently over the last few decades, most notably starring as Angel on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the spinoff Angel from 1997 to 2004. From 2005 to 2017, he starred as Seeley Booth in the procedural Bones, before landing SEAL Team, which premiered in 2017.

While James Garner died in 2014, Boreanaz was still able to get the stamp of approval from the next best person: his daughter. After news of the casting broke, Gigi Garner took to X to share that she recently got a call from the Buffy star. “He was kind enough to share that he was offered the series & thinking about it,” she said. “He wanted to know how I felt about the reboot, etc… If anybody can do it, HE CAN!” Gigi said she is 100% “on board! It is going to be great!”

The Rockford Files reboot, which will be a contemporary update on the classic series, comes from writer Mike Daniels, producers Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly, and Universal Television. Daniels is executive producing with Timberman and Beverly via their Timberman/Beverly banner. Chris Leanza of Timberman/Beverly is co-executive producing, while Universal Television is producing.