Brooklyn Nine-Nine has introduced us to quite a few of the lead characters’ parents during the Fox comedy’s three season run. Although we’ve met Jake Peralta’s mostly absentee father, Roger (Bradley Whitford), we’ve never met the mom who loved him and raised him in his dad’s absence. Now, that lovely woman has been cast, and she’ll be played by none other than Katey Sagal, aka Gemma Teller aka Peg Bundy, otherwise thought of as an inspiration to moms of all types, everywhere.
News broke this week that Sagal has signed on for an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine that is scheduled to air in the early part of 2016, some time after the Fox comedy returns at midseason (and in a new timeslot). The episode will feature Sagal playing Karen Peralta. Even more interestingly, TV Line reports the episode will also feature Bradley Whitford’s big return playing Jake’s dad, who is conveniently nicknamed Rocket.
That’s bound to be a big event, as last season Brooklyn Nine-Nine took great pains to introduce Rocket as an egotistical and shady father figure who popped in to visit Jake when he got some time off as an airline pilot. In fact, he only showed up—for the first time in six years we might add—to get some legal help from Jake, Charles and co. So, the fact that he is going to be back in the same episode as Jake’s mom is not only a surprise; there should also be plenty of room for random shenanigans and some sober moments along with all of the signature hilarity B-99 has become known for.
Following her lengthy stint as the matriarch on Sons of Anarchy, Katey Sagal stuck with FX and her real-life husband Kurt Sutter for a run on The Bastard Executioner. The period drama didn’t have the avid fanbase that Sons or The Shield before it had, and after ratings dwindled through the show’s Season 1 run, the network ultimately opted to cancel the drama. While that’s bad news for FX and The Bastard Executioner, it now means that Sagal is free to pursue new projects, as well as guest gigs like B-99, and pairing her up as Bradley Whitford’s ex should be super interesting.
We still have a while to wait before the big appearance happens, though. Brooklyn Nine-Nine will air its winter finale this Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET on Fox. Then, Fox has the show set to return on January 5, but if you are savvy about calendar days, you may have noticed that January 5 is not a Sunday, it’s a Tuesday. Fox is using the show to help launch a full comedy block that will also include New Girl, The Grinder and Grandfathered. You can check out exactly how the new primetime lineup will look with our midseason premiere schedule. In the meantime, let’s hope Fox goes back to calling its Sunday night lineup Animation Domination.
