They say you can’t keep a good officer down, and with the return of the long-running Reno 911! for another new season on Roku Channel, it turns out you can’t keep a bad officer down, either! Per Variety, The Reno 911! Defunded trailer was released Wednesday, February 9, 2022, and it heralds the return of the Reno’s Sheriffs’ Department. But this time, they’ve been defunded! Reno 911! Defunded will be revived as a Roku Original, with the series getting an eleven-episode season that will be released for streaming beginning on February 25, 2022.
Most of the main Reno 911! cast is returning, including Thomas Lennon as Lieutenant Jim Dangle, Robert Ben Garant as Deputy Travis Junior, Cedric Yarbrough as Deputy S. Jones, Kerri Kenney as Deputy Trudy Wiegel, Niecy Nash as Deputy Raineesha Williams, Wendi McLendon-Covey as Deputy Clementine Johnson, Carlos Alazraqui as Deputy James Garcia, Mary Birdsong as Deputy Cherisha Kimball, and Ian Roberts as Sergeant Jack Declan. Sadly, it seems as though Joe Lo Truglio will not be reprising the role of Deputy Frank Rizzo for Defunded (perhaps the character was burned up in a fire; it happens at the Reno Sheriffs’ Department from time to time).
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
The season will also include the return of several guest stars, including “Weird Al” Yankovich as Ted Nugent and George Lopez as Mayor Hernandez. The trailer also features the debut of guest star Jamie Lee Curtis as a new character, one who seems tasked with training the deputies, with a special focus on Deputy Johnson. Hopefully, the series will also include other regular guest stars like Patton Oswalt, whose most memorable guest appearance may have been the graceless Ren Faire guy, or Nick Swardson, who regularly plays the wealthy rollerblading, hot-short-wearing, drug-addict Terry on the series.
ACAB (Even Dangle)
Roku
Reno 911! originally aired on Comedy Central, first premiering in 2003 and running for six seasons. Over the course of the six seasons, the roster of deputies changed somewhat, but the satirical tone and irreverent approach to depicting the police stayed consistent. In 2007, the deputies appeared in a big-screen adaptation, Reno 911! Miami, which saw the Reno Sheriffs’ Department headed to Florida.
In 2020, the series was revived on the streaming platform Quibi. This season consisted of twenty-five seven-minute episodes. All of these are currently available to watch for free on Roku, but do note that the Defunded Roku Original revival will take the form of more traditional 30-minute-long episodes.
And in December 2021, the most recent exploits of the Reno Sheriffs’ deputies were released for streaming on Paramount+ in the form of a second movie: Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon. Early on in that movie, Deputy Junior tells the camera, “It’s been a bad year for cops, man. Between the Antifa/Black Lives Matters guys that have been trying to defund us and the Blue Lives Matter crowd that actively tried to kill us, I should have been a [expletive deleted] garbage man like Dad said.”
While Deputy Junior may have a point, I am personally relieved that the officers of the Reno Sheriffs’ Department have survived long enough to bring us another season of the most honest depiction of cops ever put on screen. If you’re interested in catching up with the first six seasons of Reno 911! in advance of Defunded, they’re currently available for streaming on Paramount+.