David Boreanaz has been a constant presence on television for nearly thirty years, and he’s not slowing down as he’s set to star in NBC’s upcoming reboot of The Rockford Files.
The Rockford Files Reboot
The new iteration hails from writer Mike Daniels (Sons of Anarchy), producers Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly (Elementary), and Universal Television, and will serve as a contemporary update of the original show.
“Newly paroled after serving time for a crime he didn’t commit, James Rockford returns to life as a private investigator, relying on his charm and wit to solve cases across Los Angeles,” reads the official description. “It doesn’t take long for his quest for legitimacy to put him squarely in the crosshairs of both local law enforcement and organized crime.“
Starting with Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997, Boreanaz has consistently moved from one long-lived project to the next. He starred in five seasons of Angel, the Buffy spinoff series, and then moved to Bones, which aired for 12 seasons, and then to SEAL Team, which aired for 7 seasons. His track record bodes well for the reboot of The Rockford Files.
The pilot will shoot in Atlanta, with additional filming taking place in Los Angeles.
The Original Series
Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell created the original Rockford Files, with Huggins having previously collaborated with James Garner on the hit Western series Maverick. The show ran for six seasons from 1974 to 1980 and became one of the defining private-eye dramas of its era, thanks in large part to Garner’s laid-back, everyman performance.
However, midway through the sixth season, Garner was advised by his doctors to step away from the series to recover from multiple injuries sustained over the years of demanding production. “The work on the show had worn me down to a nub,” he later admitted. During the resulting hiatus, NBC ultimately cancelled the series, citing escalating production costs and claiming the show was losing the studio millions of dollars.
The cancellation was followed by a lengthy legal battle between Garner and Universal over profits from the series, a dispute that dragged on for years. The case was eventually settled out of court in Garner’s favour, and the actor would later reprise his iconic role in a run of eight Rockford Files TV movies, which aired on CBS between 1994 and 1999, giving fans a long-delayed and welcome return to Jim Rockford.
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