The Rockford Files reboot sets a January 2027 premiere date — David Boreanaz asked for one person's blessing before taking the role
NBC gave its revival of the James Garner classic the Thursday 8 p.m. slot. Before saying yes, its new star called Garner's daughter.
The Rockford Files returns to NBC in January 2027, in the Thursday 8 p.m. slot, with the exact date still to be announced. David Boreanaz plays Jim Rockford — newly paroled for a crime he didn't commit, working as a private investigator in Los Angeles — the role James Garner made iconic across six seasons from 1974 to 1980.
Boreanaz has been telling the story of what he did before accepting. He called Gigi Garner, the late actor's daughter, told her NBC had offered him the part, and asked for her blessing — while promising not to do an impression:
"What your father did is iconic and he's already climbed that mountaintop."
— David Boreanaz, recounting the call to Gigi Garner, to Parade
She gave the blessing, and per Today, Boreanaz went for a swim afterward and thanked James Garner. Two personal footnotes make the call land harder: Boreanaz's mother once told him he should follow in Garner's footsteps, and the actor has admitted he never actually watched the original — he was a Six Million Dollar Man kid.
Why this attempt got further than the last two
NBC has tried to bring Rockford back before, and both attempts died off-screen. Dermot Mulroney shot a pilot in 2009 that never aired; a Vince Vaughn movie version stalled out in 2012. The Boreanaz version cleared every hurdle the others didn't — pilot, series order in May, a fall-upfronts timeslot — and NBC scheduling chief Jeff Bader explained the January launch as pure slot math: the Thursday real estate doesn't open up until then.
NBC tried a Rockford revival in 2009 and again in 2012. Neither made it to air; this one has a timeslot and a 13-episode order.
The pedigree around it is network-sturdy. Creator Mike Daniels (Sons of Anarchy) runs the show, Greg Mottola directed the pilot, and Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly produce for Universal Television. The production shot in Los Angeles — where else — helped by an estimated $21 million in California tax credits.
What carries over from Garner
The original Rockford won five Emmys including Outstanding Drama, gave David Chase his early writing showcase, and ran until Garner's doctors ordered filming stopped mid-season six. Boreanaz, whose leading-man streak has run unbroken from Buffy through Angel, Bones, and SEAL Team since 1997, says the update keeps the DNA without the mimicry — same wit, same charm-over-gunplay approach, same Los Angeles.
One element survives intact, by the star's own enthusiasm: the car. Garner's Firebird chases were the original's signature, and Boreanaz told the Universal preview crowd "I love doing car sequences." Whether the famous answering-machine cold opens survive into the smartphone era is, as of now, the reboot's best-kept secret.
Previously we wrote: Ryan Coogler's X-Files reboot got a series order — fans are just glad Chris Carter isn't running it