Comedy icon Chelsea Peretti announced she’s departing Brooklyn Nine-Nine during season 6, which is the worst thing to happen to television since Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s brief cancellation in May.
Peretti shared the announcement on Twitter on Oct. 3, which was met with a lot of emotion from fans and support from castmates. Her character, Gina Linetti, is one of the best — and definitely the funniest — character on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She exudes confidence and charm, she lives for drama and she consistently quips amazing one-liners, but she’s also an amazing friend, inspiringly hard worker and essential part of the B99 machine.
Gina is my favorite character on the show. She’s eccentric in the best ways and adds a special edge to a show that centers around cops who always do the right thing. Her hilarity on Season 1 Episode 16, “The Party,” is what officially got me hooked on the show. Any time I want to introduce somebody to B99, I show them that episode and tell them to pay close attention to Gina.
A lot of aspects of Gina’s personality are awe-inspiring: her extreme dedication to Beyoncé and dancing, her ability to consistently remain plugged in to social media and popular culture, her constant cunning attitude, her willingness to grow, and her incredible loyalty, to name a few. Brooklyn Nine-Nine writers are going to have to make up for a lot of lost pizazz without the power Peretti brings to the table.
Throughout the show’s first five seasons, Gina overcomes fears, advances her career, returns to school, expands her family, makes herself vulnerable and falls in love. She goes from one of the cast’s lovable goofballs to an essential part of the precinct family. B99 fans have watched the squad grow closer as they’ve gone through tough, emotional situations as a team, it’s going to be hard on the heart to watch a piece of that team fizzle away.
Although I feel a deep attachment to Gina and don’t want to see her leave, her character has massively developed since those first season shenanigans — I’m confident the show will create an amazing story leading up to her departure. Season Five marked a lot of major milestones for the Nine-Nine squad and a big change to Gina’s life will fit right in that theme.
Peretti’s talent extends far beyond her capabilities as Gina — she’s written for shows such as Saturday Night Live, Kroll Show, and Parks and Recreation. She hosted the hilarious podcast Call Chelsea Peretti from 2012 to 2017 and and she has a jarring special on Netflix, One of the Greats, that breaks the mold of typical stand-up without losing any laughs. Needless to say, I’m confident the next step of her career will more than make up for the departure of my favorite character from my favorite show.
