Brooklyn Nine-Nine Cast And Co-Creator Remember Andre Braugher, Imagine What Jake And Amy Are Up To Now (Six Kids?!?)

Could the Nine-Nine get back together for another Halloween heist?

Five years after "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" ended its eight-season run, stars Melissa Fumero (Amy Santiago), Stephanie Beatriz (Rosa Diaz), and Joe Lo Truglio (Charles Boyle) reunited with co-creator Dan Goor at New York Comic Con on Thursday, where the possibility of revisiting the beloved comedy was very much on their minds.

Asked what Jake and Amy might be up to today, Goor jokingly suggested that the couple now has six children — a prospect Fumero immediately rejected.

"Hell no!" she exclaimed, insisting that Amy would be on top of her birth control.

But Goor had an explanation: The couple's additional children were an unplanned set of quintuplets, leaving even the meticulously organized Amy powerless to prevent the unexpected.

As for whether audiences might actually get to see Jake and Amy again? "We all have to have a reunion to see, right?" Goor suggested, to thunderous applause. "We should do it! Seeing [the cast] here makes me think we should do it."

There's just one major obstacle: How do you return to the squad room without Captain Raymond Holt?

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Reflecting on the late Andre Braugher, who passed away in December 2023, Goor acknowledged that the actor's absence would make any potential revival particularly difficult.

"It's the one thing that really makes me wonder how we could do a reboot," he said. "I just don't know how we could do it. But we would find a way."

I had the pleasure of moderating the hour-long retrospective, held as part of NBC's 100th anniversary celebration, which saw the cast revisit the show's earliest days, the evolution of its most beloved relationships, and their memories of Braugher.

I also caught up with Goor backstage for an exclusive conversation about the show's enduring appeal, its legacy, and some of the creative decisions that helped define its eight-season run. (We also discussed his new NBC comedy "Sunset P.I." and whether it shares a universe with "Brooklyn Nine-Nine.")

Read on for highlights from both conversations.

TVLINE | Dan, take us back to 2013, when you and [co-creator] Mike Schur were first putting "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" together. What was the original pitch, and how much of the show we eventually got to know was there from the beginning?

DAN GOOR | Mike and I had been working on "Parks and Recreation." We were very proud of it, and we wanted to make another show.

Now, "Parks" is so in the world of streaming and in the lexicon of culture, but when it started, it was a little bit of a tough sell. It was a show about government workers. We were like, wouldn't it be easier if, instead of an episode starting with, "You have to do an environmental impact report," and then having to explain what an environmental impact report is, Terry walks out and says to Jake, "There's been a murder"? That's it. You know exactly what's going on.

Then it turned out figuring out how to solve murders and stuff was actually tougher than the environmental impact report. That was kind of the starting place.

TVLINE | What do each of you remember about auditioning for the show?

JOE LO TRUGLIO | I was nervous. One memory was doing some improv with Andy [Samberg] in the room. I had met Andy before. We were in a movie together called "I Love You, Man." It was a bit nerve-wracking because I wanted to do well, but it went great.

MELISSA FUMERO | I remember Amy was really different in the beginning. In the audition material, she was a bit more of the straight man, kind of tough. There was less bantering. I remember having a really funny run about loving "Fargo." It was like, "Fargo made me want to be a cop." It was a whole funny run in the audition material.

GOOR | That became a cold open we did [in Season 1] where everyone said their favorite cop movie.

STEPHANIE BEATRIZ | My experience was weird because I auditioned for the role of Amy, but then Allison Jones, our casting director, had me come in for this other role. Megan, I think, was the name at the time. She was redheaded, tough, all her brothers were cops... and I was like [deadpans] "sounds like me!"

GOOR | With all three of you, as soon as we saw you, we wanted you. Even when it was not necessarily the right fit for a part, it was like, "Let's make a part." And the part of Gina didn't exist — and so, in a way, Rosa was both Gina and something else, and it turned into Rosa and Gina.

One thing we would do is have meetings with all of the actors before we started shooting — before we started writing, really — and tried to incorporate aspects of their personality and their comedy into the show. Maybe with the exception of Stephanie, who was playing the most drastically different character from her actual personality.

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TVLINE | Do any of you remember a moment making the pilot when you realized you might have something special?

BEATRIZ | Me, Melissa, Joe, and Andy were shooting something downtown... and it was late, late, late at night. We were sitting around at a little table, and Andy looked at us and was like, "Well, you guys want to do this for the next seven years?"

FUMERO | I remember the first time he and I sat at our desks. We just looked at each other, and he went, "Could be your view for the next seven years." I was like, "I hope so!"

LO TRUGLIO | I remember when we'd shot about six episodes that first season, and we were waiting for the back nine. Our producer came in and said, "We have an announcement," and we got picked up for the back nine. At the time, that was a big deal. It showed the network had confidence in the show, and the whole room went up in a roar of applause and cheers. It's a great memory for me.

TVLINE | Dan, which character changed the most from the first draft of the pilot to what they eventually became?

GOOR | I would say Terry, actually. Terry was such a pussycat in the pilot. He didn't carry a gun. He was trembling about everything, he was really soft-spoken, and we kept a lot of that. At his essence, Terry has this nurturing softness to him. Everyone else incrementally changed a little bit, in the same way that, hopefully, real human beings change.

LO TRUGLIO | I like the changes you made to Boyle, in terms of his obsession with Rosa at the beginning of the show. It was charming for a time, and then it got problematic, and I'm glad that we navigated that really well. Rosa and Boyle ended up becoming really nice friends. That was a big change that I don't think a lot of people picked up on at the time, but I know for Stephanie and I, that was a big deal.

TVLINE | Charles could have easily just been the "weird best friend," but there were layers to him. Joe, what did you see in Boyle initially that you wanted to bring out?

LO TRUGLIO | Resilience. Boyle can be goofy and weird, but he never let the world get him down too much. And when he did, he would speak up about it, sometimes in a way that was cheesy. But that was a part of Boyle I loved playing — the way he was able to bounce back and know that he could still stand up for himself.

TVLINE | Was there ever a script where you went to the writers and said, "I can't believe you're making me do this"?

LO TRUGLIO | Nope! It always made sense.

GOOR | That's why Boyle got so much comedy. There were so many crazy things we made him do. We were just reminiscing about him holding an opossum. That was an actual opossum.

LO TRUGLIO | Commitment. You've got to commit.

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TVLINE | Rosa was tough, intimidating, emotionally guarded... yet she became one of the show's most beloved characters. Stephanie, what do you think it was about Rosa that resonated so strongly with audiences?

BEATRIZ | She says the thing that you wish you could say. She just does it. She trusts herself, and she isn't afraid of much. She has a very intense moral center that reminds her of what's right and wrong. And a lot of jackets. People want to be badass.

TVLINE | Amy was incredibly ambitious and Type A from jump, but her neuroses became a huge part of what audiences loved about her — especially that signature dork dance. Melissa, how much fun was it leaning into her awkwardness as the character evolved?

FUMERO | The most fun. There was a lot of physical stuff that came from her awkwardness and her neuroses that was always fun to play. When we were shooting the pilot, Amy's nerdiness and neuroses were just starting to come out. I would get rewrites where she was a little more neurotic, and I was like, "Man, I thought I was being really chill and cool on set! F–k, they're seeing through me!"

She just got more and more nervous and awkward. There was always a new layer to uncover. You get a new script and a new piece of information about your character that's so delicious and fun to play. That's one of the things I miss most about being on the show.

BEATRIZ | I just want to interject to say, you undersold the physical comedy you got to do on this show. it is a gift for a woman to do that. Most of the time, we're just not allowed to do that. Physical comedy is given to the men. Melissa showed them what she could do, and they ran with it. 

The more she did, the more they gave her, and it was so refreshing as an ensemble member [to see that]. Because she's graceful. She grew up as a dancer. She knows what her body can do in space and film. That is not her natural state of being, physicality-wise.

FUMERO | It was so fun [to be a bad dancer], to keep finding new little bad dance bits to do.

TVLINE | Rosa and Amy couldn't have been more different on paper, but the Sleuth Sisters were thick as thieves. Beyond your chemistry as performers, what made those two such great friends?

FUMERO | I remember a scene in a car where Rosa's just like, "I have your back. How can you not know that I have your back?" And I loved that scene so much because it was such a relatable moment.

BEATRIZ | We're two women in a precinct full of dudes!

FUMERO | Yes, that's what it was. And it was such a relatable moment as a woman, especially if you work in an industry that's male-dominated.

BEATRIZ | [Deadpans] Which one isn't? 

FUMERO | Would these two women be friends if they weren't in the same job? I'd like to think they would. But just that partnership, that "we're in this together" bond, and then celebrating their differences and how they complemented each other... I loved that.

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TVLINE | We need to talk about Jake and Amy. Melissa, why do you think these seemingly polar opposites became one of TV's most beloved pairings?

FUMERO | A lot of it was the writing. He made her have more fun, and she helped him grow up. That is something I think is beautiful — the way that they never compromised who they were, but instead grew together. That was the thing I loved most about them. He got her to be silly. He got her to have fun. Season 1 Amy would never break the rules, and he got her to break some rules.

GOOR | When we wrote the show in the first place, our aim — and you can see it in the pilot, because they already have the bet going — was that hopefully there would be a Jake-and-Amy will-they-won't-they, but we really didn't want to force anything. We slow-played it because we wanted to make sure the actors had chemistry. And then you guys had such overwhelming chemistry.

The other thing we didn't want to do was force the relationship. What happens in sitcoms sometimes is that you get a couple together, and then there's nothing to do with them, so people break them up or introduce artificial obstacles.

We tried to put them in episodes where they were in stories together, but only a fraction of those stories were about their relationship. They could be funny the way Charles and Jake could be funny, or Rosa and Jake could be funny. They're two cops with different personalities. It's an odd-couple situation.

TVLINE | Dan, "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" spent its first five seasons on Fox before NBC rescued it. I remember talking to you before and immediately after the cancellation, during that whirlwind 36-hour period. Looking back, what stands out most?

GOOR | I remember that, too, and it was an insane 36-hour period. I think, looking back, it was a sign of a different time in the culture, before the culture had become so siloed, when network television still had [greater] reach. We were still doing 22 [episodes], and we didn't even realize the impact we were having and the reach we were having.

We were so gratified and flattered and excited. The weird silver lining to getting canceled was hearing from our fans — fans we didn't even necessarily know we had. You have to remember, we were linear, and we had fine ratings on linear, but all of the Hulu ratings were opaque. So I don't think we really understood the size of our audience.

And then we didn't really change the way things were [once we started making Season 6 for NBC], because we kind of felt like it was a validation of what we had been doing. Also, we were already [produced by NBC] Universal [and airing on Fox those first five seasons]. We had done 112 episodes at that point, so they knew what they were getting, and that's what they wanted, too.

TVLINE | Stephanie, you've spoken before about the importance of authenticity in Rosa's coming-out story. How did you and the writers strike the right balance, and what did you hope viewers would take from it?

BEATRIZ | You know, it's funny. It feels very antiquated now. It hasn't been that long since that episode [aired], but the landscape of the world has changed a lot. I will say, there were things that I specifically asked for that Dan did.

GOOR | Stephanie really led the way. 

BEATRIZ | As a Latina, as an immigrant, as a queer person, as a woman... oftentimes, other people's words are coming out of your mouth, and what's really nice is when people in power — many of them, white men — decide to be good with their power. They decide to have a moral compass and think about what kind of things they want to put into the world. They look over to the side and ask you, "What do you want to say, and how can I help you say that?"

GOOR | There were a lot of things she wanted to say, and we made sure...

BEATRIZ | ...to say them. 

GOOR | There's that Holt line [by writer/executive story editor] Justin Noble — which always gets to me — about how anytime somebody says who they are, the world becomes a more interesting and better place. That wasn't in the draft until late.

TVLINE | Looking back on eight seasons of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," is there an episode that you think best captures what made the show special? Maybe one you'd point to if you were introducing the series to someone for the first time, excluding the pilot.

GOOR | It's funny, because I would say the finale, but obviously I wouldn't introduce somebody to the show with the finale. I love the dinner party at Holt's house. I love "Beach House." Those are great ensemble episodes. The Halloween heists are so fun, but they're better once you know what a regular episode is. And anything with the Pontiac Bandit or Pimento. It's like choosing your favorite child. There are so many.

TVLINE | "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" feels like one of the last network sitcoms to generate genuine catchphrases, and you certainly embraced the fans' embrace of those lines. Is there one that brings you particular joy when you hear fans repeat it or see it pop up on social media?

GOOR | "Title of your sex tape" has become such a tic for me. There's "Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool...." There's "Noice." It's just so wonderful that people remember these things and say them. It makes you feel like the show meant something to them.

TVLINE | We can't reflect on the success of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" without talking about the late, great Andre Braugher. Dan, when you think about Andre and everything he brought to Captain Holt, what stands out most?

GOOR | For a character who never smiled, Braugher's smile stands out. Actually, it's the one thing that really makes me wonder how we could do a reboot. I just don't know how we could do it. But we would find a way.

Andre's humanity, his unbelievable talent, his seriousness in being funny, his joy in being funny.... He hadn't really done a comedy like this before, and he was so joyous about it.

When we first started the show, we had advisors come in to talk about what it was like to be a cop. We all sat down, the actors and Mike and me, and Andy went first. He asked, "What's the dumbest thing you've ever seen? What's the dumbest thing you've ever done? Anything else stupid?"

Then Andre went, "Take me through your day, from one minute before you wake up until one minute after you fall asleep. And then we'll talk about your dreams."

And he was serious! Andy texted me and asked if he could see me in my office. We went back, and he was like, "What the f–k is going on?" [Laughs] That was a real Andy-Andre moment.

TVLINE | Do any of you have any specific memories from set that audiences never got to see — something that encapsulates who Andre was?

FUMERO | There are so many, and a lot of them are just for me to have. But I loved hearing him sing. He sang every day. My dressing room was next to his, so I heard his playlist every day. I got so used to hearing his music that when I was pregnant and got really good at power-napping, whatever he would play would lull me to sleep.

I would usually wake up from my nap to the sound of him singing, because he would sing at the top of his lungs in his dressing room. He would sing on set. I have videos of him singing. He was just always singing.