David Boreanaz Will Star in ‘Rockford Files’ Reboot at NBC

NBC’s Rockford Files reboot has found its leading man.

David Boreanaz has signed on to star in the pilot as private eye James Rockford. He’ll take on a role made famous by James Garner in the original Rockford Files, which ran from 1974-80 and continued later with several TV movies. Boreanaz will also be a producer on the pilot.

NBC ordered the pilot in January as part of a spate of pickups as the network stages its own mini-revival of the traditional pilot season. NBC has ordered eight pilots so far, up from just three last year.

Like the original, The Rockford Files will center on the recently paroled (for a crime he didn’t actually commit) private investigator Jim Rockford who “uses his charm and wit to solve cases around Los Angeles,” per the show’s logline. “It doesn’t take long for his quest for legitimacy to land him squarely in the crosshairs of both local police and organized crime.”

Boreanaz has played a private investigator before in his career — albeit a supernatural one. The original premise of Angel, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff centered on his character, was that the vampire moved to Los Angeles and opened a detective business.

Boreanaz most recently starred in SEAL Team, which ran for seven seasons on CBS and Paramount+. Prior to that he spent 12 years as FBI agent Seeley Booth on Fox’s Bones. He broke out as the tortured, ensouled Angel on Buffy, then toplined Angel, which ran from 1999-2004. He is repped by CAA, Visionary Entertainment and Felker Toczek.

Mike Daniels (Sons of Anarchy, NBC’s The Village) is writing The Rockford Files and will executive produce with Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman. Chris Leanza is co-EP, and Boreanaz is a producer. The pilot comes from Universal Television.