Ike Barinholtz says he was writing a “dirty, rated-R, modern” version.

Planned Police Academy reboot starring Key and Peele was canceled after Michael Brown killing in Ferguson

Ike Barinholtz says he was writing a "dirty, rated-R, modern" version.

By Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence is a former associate editor at **. He left EW in 2022.

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June 18, 2026 3:16 p.m. ET

Steve Guttenberg and Bubba Smith in 'Police Academy'. Credit:

- Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele were involved with a *Police Academy* reboot.

- Ike Barinholtz says he was writing the film, but the plans were scrapped following the death of Michael Brown.

- The new *Police Academy* would have been a "dirty, rated-R, modern" version.

Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele were set to star in a new *Police Academy* movie, until the 2014 killing of Michael Brown led to national unrest.

On the recent episode of his podcast *Funny You Ask*, Ike Barinholtz revealed that he and his writing partner David Stassen were working on a reboot of the prolific comedy film franchise, with Barinholtz's former *Mad TV* costars Key and Peele set to headline. And then Brown was shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., and protests broke out in the city and the issue of abuse of force by officers became a major topic around the country.

"As we were developing the film, Mike Brown got shot, and we were making the movie for Key and Peele," Barinholtz shared. "And all of a sudden people were like, ‘We’re not making a cop comedy right now where we’re having these two hilarious Black actors play police officers.’ Sorry, never happened!"

** has reached out to the representatives for Barinholtz, Key, and Peele.

Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele in 2022.

Leon Bennett/Getty

On Aug. 9, 2014, Brown, an 18-year-old Black man, was killed by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, who was never charged, with the U.S. Department of Justice concluding that he acted in self-defense.

Another cop comedy was too far along to avoid the bad optics: *Let's Be Cops* opened in theaters just four days after Brown's death. Damon Wayans Jr. and Jake Johnson starred in the comedy as longtime friends who begin posing as LAPD officers. Despite the timing, *Let's Be Cops* grossed almost $140 million.

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Directed by Hugh Wilson, 1984's *Police Academy* followed a new batch of unqualified recruits who were allowed to become cops after an policy allowed anyone in who applied. The huge performance of the first film led to six sequels.

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And so it was no surprise that there was interest is rebooting *Police Academy*, or to do it with Key and Peele, who were nearing the end of their iconic sketch series *Key & Peele*. Barinholtz says he was told to make a "dirty, rated-R, modern" version, but that the original *Police Academy* creator — presumably Wilson — would be involved, yet they didn't "have to listen to him."

"All he wanted to do was give us notes," Barinholtz shared. "And he was adamant that we would have the original cast in the movie. He wanted them to have big parts. So when we’re doing the pitch, my partner was like, ‘So we have this scene and that’s when we see all the original cast.' He is just naming all dead people. And I was like, he didn’t even do research to find out who’s still alive in the cast. Needless to say, [Wilson] was not happy."

Barinholtz and Stassen have since gone on to co-create Netflix's hit basketball comedy* **Running Point*.

- Comedy Movies

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Source: “EW Comedy”