Key & Peele ‘Police Academy’ reboot was canceled by Michael Brown shooting, writer reveals

A planned “Police Academy” reboot featuring comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele was quietly shelved in the mid-2010s, not because of creative friction, but because the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, made a lighthearted cop comedy untenable, writer Ike Barinholtz revealed this week.

Mr. Barinholtz disclosed the backstory on a recent episode of his podcast “Funny You Ask,” speaking with guest Joel McHale. He and his writing partner, David Stassen, had been hired by New Line Cinema to pen a rebooted, R-rated version of the 1984 franchise comedy, which was to be produced by and star Mr. Key and Mr. Peele, both former “Mad TV” cast members.

The pitch process itself was rocky. The original film’s creator was attached to the project and proved difficult, insisting that the script hew closely to the source material and that surviving members of the original cast be given prominent roles. The pitch meeting went sideways when Mr. Stassen, while running through a scene featuring returning characters, began naming actors who had already died.

But the pitch mishap proved inconsequential compared to what happened next. On Aug. 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, triggering more than a week of nationwide protests over police use of force and militarization. The officer was investigated but never indicted on civil rights charges.

The cultural moment immediately doomed the project.

“As we were developing the film, Mike Brown got shot, and all of a sudden, and we were making the movie for Key and Peele, and people were like, ’We’re not making a cop comedy right now where we’re having these two hilarious Black actors play police officers,’” Mr. Barinholtz said.

The original “Police Academy,” released in 1984, starred Steve Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall and Bubba Smith. It was a major box-office success that spawned six sequels, a live-action television series and an animated series. Attempts to revive the franchise have repeatedly stalled since 2003.

All three principals have since moved on. Mr. Barinholtz is currently starring in the Apple TV+ showbiz satire “The Studio.” Mr. Peele is developing an undisclosed feature film, and Mr. Key is on set for the “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” sequel.