‘New York Undercover’ Series Reboot Back On Track With Ayanna Floyd Davis & Dick Wolf Nearing Deal With Peacock

Deadline is reporting that Dick Wolf’s groundbreaking 1990s cop drama New York Undercover, which originally developed an updated take on the series during the 2018-19 broadcast development season, is now in negotiations with NBCUniversal’s streaming platform Peacock.

Expected to receive a series commitment, this new reboot hails from former The Chi showrunner Ayanna Floyd Davis, Dick Wolf and Universal Television where the company is based.

Written by Floyd Davis, the new series is described as re-examination of the original, reflecting the current times. It is picking up 20 years after the end of the original series that changed the face of TV cop dramas.

Floyd, who will serve as showrunner, executive produces with Wolf Entertainment’s Wolf, Peter Jankowski and Arthur Forney. Uni TV, part of Universal Studio Group, produces in association with Wolf Entertainment

The original 1994 series, which aired for four seasons on Fox, starred Malik Yoba and Michael DeLorenzo as undercover detectives, marking the first police drama on U.S. television to feature two people of color in the lead roles.

During 2018-19 broadcast development season, writer Ben Watkins put together a pilot at ABC. It served as a sequel to the original series, with Yoba reprising his role as J.C. Williams, joined by fellow original cast member Luna Lauren Velez, who reprised her role as Nina Moreno. ABC opted not pick up the series

The Floyd Davis-penned reimagining is still in very early stages, we hear, and it is unclear yet whether it would feature characters from the original series.

Floyd Davis served as executive producer/showrunner on the Lena Waithe-created Showtime series The Chi. She also served as co-executive producer on Empire, Falling Skies, Hannibal and Hit the Floor and did a stint on Private Practice.