David Boreanaz is heading back to the world of criminal investigations, this time without the badge. Fresh off his run leading CBS’s SEAL Team, the actor is trading military missions for private investigations as he’s set to headline NBC’s reboot of The Rockford Files. He’ll play the role of legendary detective Jim Rockford, originally made celebrated by James Garner. NBC has already unveiled a first look at the reboot, and now, it’s become clearer how the network plans to structure the modern series.
NBC appears to be staying largely faithful to the original series regarding Jim Rockford’s story. Boreanaz’s Rockford is a newly paroled private investigator who was wrongfully imprisoned. After returning to Los Angeles, he quickly resumes his detective work, this time drawing on the network of former inmates he met behind bars to lend a hand crack cases. However, his eagerness to prove legitimacy soon lands him in heated water, putting him at odds with both local law enforcement and a hazardous organized crime syndicate. The series will also star Michaela McManus (9-1-1: Lone Star) as Kate, Rockford’s ex, who’s also an LAPD detective; Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) will play Rockford’s trailer-park neighbor and activist, and Felix Solis (The Rookie) as Rockford’s confidante, Nitty, who’s also a defense attorney.
The Rockford Files reboot has already secured NBC’s Thursday 8 PM ET timeslot, a slot that has traditionally served as a robust launching pad for modern series. While the network has confirmed a midseason January premiere, it has yet to reveal which Thursday the show will debut. That announcement is expected soon, especially after Boreanaz recently revealed to ScreenRant that the first season will consist of 13 episodes. “We have 13 episodes. We’re tackling one at a time. We’ve got No. 1 in our belt, and we’re excited about that,” the Bones star said. While shorter than the episode counts of NBC hits like the One Chicago and Law & Order franchises, a 13-episode order has become increasingly common for modern broadcast dramas and could likely be expanded if the series proves successful.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor Sheridan Show Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has spotless hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
08
Someone modern arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
10
When it’s over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the up-to-date world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are lean, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: acute, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re shrewd enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
What Other New NBC Show is Premiering in the Next TV Season?
The Rockford Files won’t be the only modern series joining NBC’s lineup this TV season. The network is also introducing several other highly anticipated projects, including Line of Fire, a thriller that marks Peter Krause‘s return to television following his exit from ABC’s 9-1-1. Co-starring Hope Davis (Your Honor), the series follows a law enforcement officer who becomes the target of an assassin and premieres Monday, September 21, 2026, at 10/9c. On the comedy side, NBC will debut Newlyweds and Sunset P.I., the latter coming from the innovative team behind Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
The Rockford Files is created by Mike Daniels (Ponies) and produced by Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly for Universal Television. Greg Mottola (Superbad) directed the pilot episode. Stay tuned for future updates.
Release Date
1974 – 1980-00-00
Directors
William Wiard, Lawrence Doheny, Ivan Dixon, Jerry London, Reza Badiyi, Russ Mayberry, Jackie Cooper, Lou Antonio, Corey Allen, Jeannot Szwarc, Stephen J. Cannell, Alexander Grasshoff, Arnold Laven, Harry Falk, John Patterson, Stuart Margolin, Alexander Singer, Bernard L. Kowalski, Bernard McEveety, Bruce Kessler, Charles S. Dubin, Christian I. Nyby II, Dana Elcar, Hy Averback
Writers
Gordon T. Dawson, Rudolph Borchert, Don Carlos Dunaway, Edward J. Lakso, David Taylor, Donald L. Gold, Rogers Turrentine, Walter Dallenbach, Lester Wm. Berke, William R. Stratton, Jo Swerling Jr., Leigh Brackett, Mitch Lindemann, Robert Hamner, Zekial Marko, Howard Berk, Shel Willens, Eric Kaldor, Gloryette Clark
