Police dramas will probably look a bit different once filming resumes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Not only will physical distancing measures need to be in place on set, storylines will also need to be updated to reflect the growing Black Lives Matter movement across North America and beyond.Following the killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police officers on May 25, cop shows have been under a microscope for the way they portray officers, police brutality, and the Black community. And while reality
shows like Cops and
Live PD have been completely axed, scripted series like
The Rookie are planning to continue the conversation by addressing some of the issues head-on.In a recent conversation with
Deadline, Karey Burke, the head of programming at ABC, revealed that when
The Rookie’s third season debuts (hopefully later this year), the series will address the topic of police brutality. “[Showrunner] Alexi Hawley is a really thoughtful ally and partner and has been in the writers’ room for some time, already planning to address the current conversation going on around police work,”
she said. “I’m impressed with his thoughtfulness and leadership about hearing and adapting the current conversations to the storylines. It’s a diverse writers room and I’m hearing that the conversations going on in that room are inspired and give me hope that that show will address and not ignore the conversations around policing.”
The Rookie stars Nathan Fillion as John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the LAPD. The series has faced its own
share of criticism in the past; during its second season, actor Afton Williamson
quit the show and claimed that she had experienced racism from the hair department, sexual assault at the show’s wrap party, and bullying from executive producers. Hair department head Sallie Ciganovich was eventually fired and a
subsequent investigation by production company eOne found “no wrongdoing.”The ABC drama isn’t the only police series looking to change the conversation when production resumes. Terry Crews
recently revealed that the upcoming season of
Brooklyn Nine-Nine will address racism and police brutality, while Christopher Meloni’s new
Law & Order SVU spinoff,
Organized Crime,
will also explore the NYPD and “a criminal justice system in the midst of its own moment of reckoning.”Meanwhile, actors who have played police officers on television and in film are
banding together to help raise awareness and funds for the BLM movement. Earlier this month Griffin Newman (
Blue Bloods) and Stephanie Beatriz (
Brooklyn Nine-Nine) took to social media to donate to Black Lives Matter causes and urged fellow actors who have played blue to do the same. “I’m an out-of-work actor who (improbably) played a detective on two episodes of BLUE BLOODS almost a decade ago,”
Newman wrote. “If you currently play a cop? If you make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in residuals from playing a cop? I’ll let you do the math.”[video_embed id='1977627']Before you go: Megan Thee Stallion, more celebs attend All Black Lives Matter protest[/video_embed]
