Brooklyn 99: Why Chelsea Peretti's Gina Left The Show (2024)

Chelsea Peretti played Gina Linetti on Brooklyn Nine-Nine for several seasons before she was abruptly written out of the show, leaving fans wondering why Gina left Brooklyn 99. One of the original cast members, Gina served as the 99th Precinct's civilian administrator and was known for weird antics, sarcastic remarks, and disinterest in work. The announcement of Peretti's departure was a shock, especially since it followed a tumultuous 2018 when Brooklyn Nine-Nine was canceled by Fox. Though the show was eventually picked up to continue on NBC, news of Peretti leaving soon followed.

Peretti was a Brooklyn Nine-Nine regular from season 1 to season 6, episode 4 — titled "Four Movements" — which functioned as her farewell outing. However, Gina Linetti returned to Brooklyn Ninine-Nine in the season 6 finale as a guest star and made a handful of further appearances before the ending of Brooklyn 99. Narrative-wise, Gina decides that it's time to leave the 99th Precinct, realizing that her talents would be better used elsewhere like being an online celebrity. While the rest of the gang is sad to see her go, they support her choice and send her off happily. Yet the question of why Gina left Brooklyn Nine-Nine from a behind-the-scenes perspective remained a mystery.

The Reason Chelsea Peretti’s Gina Left The Nine-Nine

According to Chelsea Peretti herself, why Gina left Brooklyn 99 wasn't entirely her decision. She refused to get into specifics of what transpired behind the scenes regarding her exit, however, so it's unclear whether the show was already looking to write her out or she was already looking to exit. For some reason, it felt like the perfect time to push through with it, so they did. Peretti also emphasized that she's close friends with Brooklyn Nine-Nine creator Dan Goor, as well as co-star and producer Andy Samberg, adding that the split was somewhat mutual and amicable.

Between the timing and Peretti deliberately declining to reveal the real reason behind her Brooklyn 99 exit, it's possible that it was a decision made by the network. As she noted in her extensive interview for her farewell episode, she's just a "lowly actor ... without much status." Given the show's standing at that point, having just been picked up by a new network after being canceled, perhaps NBC wanted to cut costs to be able to move forward with it. This forced the sitcom to downsize its ensemble cast, and since the Chelsea Peretti Brooklyn 99 character was the only non-cop character, she was the one to go.

When Brooklyn Nine-Nine aired its eighth and final season, the show looked to wrap up a lot of important character arcs and plotlines. As part of the elaborate final farewell that the characters threw for each other (and that the show threw for its audience), Chelsea Peretti made a return appearance as Gina for the two-part season 8 finale. As the precinct embarks upon another elaborate Halloween heist, Gina is brought in as a part of the plans and gets to be a part of the full celebration.

A final scene at the end shows that, even with many of the characters having left the Nine-Nine, they were able to regroup for an annual Halloween heist including Terry, Jake, Amy, Holt, and of course, Gina herself.

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Will Brooklyn 99 Ever Come Back?

With or without Gina, Brooklyn 99's ending after season 8 was a sad blow to many viewers, although it was also a logical move for NBC and the cast, given the increased scrutiny and reduced support for the police over the past few years resulting police brutality cases around the country. The final Brooklyn 99 season attempted to address this issue and also provided a touching and complete-feeling sendoff for all of its main characters.

There are some who want to see the show return in the future, however, and Terry Crews is one of them. According to Crews, much of Brooklyn 99's cast would be open to participating in anything from a full reboot to a Brooklyn 99 movie to an annual Halloween Heist episode moving forward (via CinemaBlend). It's unknown at this time whether any of these hopes are likely to pan out, but knowing that Crews and others would be interested in a Brooklyn 99 reunion of some kind means it's not off the table.

What Chelsea Peretti Has Done Since Brooklyn 99

The Chelsea Peretti Brooklyn 99 character may have gotten the ax, but the comedian/actress has gotten along fine since then. Mostly, Peretti lends her talents to voiceover work. She's worked in popular programs such as American Dad, The Simpsons, as well as Bob's Burgers. In 2018, after leaving Brooklyn 99, she booked the movie Game Night, starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, as Glenda.

In 2021, Peretti joined the cast of Sing 2 as Suki Lane, a talent scout dog working at Crystal Entertainment. Other than that, the actress tends to keep a low profile. In her personal life, she's married to Get Out director and comedian Jordan Peele, and the two share a child. Outside of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, many probably recognize Peretti from her run on the sketch comedy show Kroll Show, of which she often played Bobby Bottleservice's girlfriend.

The Brooklyn Nine-Nine Scene Chelsea Peretti Found Hardest To Film

Gina was one of the most popular characters on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and despite Chelsea Peretti's early exit, her interviews on behind-the-scenes experiences tend to be positive and incredibly insightful for fans of the show. There's one Brooklyn Nine-Nine scene the Gina actress found particularly hard to film in the show's early seasons, however. Thankfully, the reason Chelsea Peretti struggled filming many scenes alongside Andre Braugher, who of course plays the borderline-emotionless Captain Holt.

However, this wasn't because of any animosity between the two, but because the Brooklyn Nine-Nine cast — Chelsea Perreti included — found Captain Holt as funny as audiences. In a 2015 Screen Actors Guild Q&A with the Brooklyn Nine-Nine cast, Peretti revealed that keeping a straight face while filming a scene in the season 2 episode "Beach House" was one of the hardest challenges of her career so far —

"the hardest I've ever laughed was when Andre in this 'Beach House' episode was supposed to be boring. ... I couldn't do it, and I feel like a lot of people had that experience."

Brooklyn Nine-Nine Remained Consistently Good After Gina Left

When it comes to an ensemble sitcom like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, losing one cast member could have hurt the whole show. Especially in the wake of the show moving networks, Gina being written out of the show could have seemed like a sign of things coming to an end. Something similar happened with actors leaving Community in the later seasons and the show never recaptured the magic of the full ensemble again. Fortunately, that was not the case for Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Though Gina was a memorable character in the series, the sitcom managed to maintain its level of quality following her exit. It has less to do with Chelsea Peretti not being missed and more to do with the talent of the rest of the cast of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The show had created such lovable and hilarious characters that they were all able to hold things together with Gina gone, never making it feel like there was a missing link. In fact, it meant the writers and showrunners could spend more time with the other characters, enriching Jake and Amy's relationship or having fun with Holt's different career ups and downs.

The show was able to continue for two more seasons, delivering the same quality humor and storytelling despite losing a key member. Gina was part of what made the show great in the beginning, but Brooklyn Nine-Nine had grown to a place where taking away one of those elements was not going to bring down the whole show.