He's done drama and comedy. He's played both roles on both sides of the law. He's even represented mayhem for Allstate. And this coming TV season, Dean Winters will play the rival of Andy Samberg for an episode of the former SNL's new comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and he's not the only guest star headed to the cop-comedy. Rapper-actor Kid Cudi is also signed on for a guest role in the Fox comedy.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a single-camera comedy slated for Fox this fall. The series comes from Parks and Recreation's Michael Schur and Dan Goor and centers on Samberg's character, a goof-off character working as a detective at a Brooklyn police precinct. EW reports that Dean Winters - known to 30 Rock fans as Dennis Duffy and Rescue Me fans as Johnny Gavin - has signed on to guest star as Warren Pembroke, a guy who works for the Major Crimes Unit. He apparently has some kind of rivalry with Samberg's Jake.
As I said, Winters' been all over the map, starring in Allstate's commercials as the funny mayhem guy, and playing Liz Lemon's love interest on 30 Rock. Those projects demonstrated his comedic skills, but we also know he's great as drama from his role as Tommy Gavin's brother in Rescue Me, not to mention Charley Dixon in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and of course Ryan O'Reilly, one of the lead characters in HBO's Oz. That part may reflect the steepest contrast to Winters' Brooklyn Nine-Nine role, considering the dramatic tone of Oz, not to mention the fact that Ryan was an inmate, as opposed to a guy working on the right side of the law.
In other Brooklyn Nine-Nine news, THR reports that rapper-actor Kid Cudi (also known as Scott Mescudi) is also set to guest star in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, playing the role of Dustin Whitman, an ex-con that may or may not have robbed a jewelry store. Samberg's Jake is convinced he did, anyway. THR says we'll see Kid Cudi in the third episode of the comedy series. Cudi's credits include HBO's How To Make It In America and Scott Waugh's upcoming feature Need for Speed, which stars Aaron Paul and Dominic Cooper and is set to arrive in theaters next March. THR reminds us that the guest stars for Brooklyn Nine-Nine also includes Fred Armisen, who will appear in the pilot. Between Samberg's ties to SNL and the creators ties with Parks and Recreation, there will hopefully be no shortage of great guest stars for this series, should it find success at Fox.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine premieres Tuesday, September 17 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Fox.
