Homicide: Life On the Street Gets Streaming Update Following Andre Braugher's Death

Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Homicide: Life on the Street star Andre Braugher died last week at the age of 61 and in the wake of his passing, fans have been seeking out his best-known roles on streaming. Unfortunately, fans hoping to watch or rewatch Homicide have come up empty handed as the seven-season series is currently unavailable. Now, there's an update on that front. Author David Simon, who wrote the book Homicide: A Year On the Killing Streets which the series was based upon, recently took to social media, updating that he's been informed by a reliable source that efforts are in progress to attempt to bring the series to streaming.

"I have been informed by a reliable source that NBC/Universal is at last attempting, along with Fremantle on the overseas rights, to clear music rights on Homicide for eventual streaming," Simon wrote. "Lot of work to achieve that, however, I am also told. Andre alone ought to rate such."

I have been informed by a reliable source that NBC/Universal is at last attempting, along with Fremantle on the overseas rights, to clear music rights on #Homicide for eventual streaming. Lot of work to do achieve that, however, I am also told.

Andre alone ought to rate such.

— David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

Simon also shared a lengthy thread paying tribute to Braugher, who played Detective Frank Pembleton on the series. You can read that thread here.

What is Homicide: Life on The Street About?

Debuting on January 31, 1993, and running for seven seasons through May 21, 1999, and then followed by Homicide: The Movie in 2000, Homicide Life on the Street is a police procedural following the work of the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Unite. The series was created by Paul Attanasio based on Simon's book. In addition to Braugher, the series starred Daniel Baldwin, Richard Belzer (who would later move with his character John Munch over to Law & Order: SVU), Clark Johnson, Yaphet Kotto, Melissa Leo, Giancarlo Esposito, Kyle Secor and more.

The fan-favorite series has long been one that fans have hoped to see come to streaming, however music rights have held things up. This is not an uncommon situation for some series and another beloved series, ABC's Moonlighting, only made it to streaming earlier this year after finally securing the majority of the music rights necessary.

Andrew Braugher's Last Project Remains Unfinished

Prior to his death, Braugher was expected to appear in Netflix's new murder-mystery drama The Residence. The Residence had only filmed four out of eight episodes before having to halt production due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Production on the series was expected to resume on January 2nd, but the status of the project is currently unclear in the wake of Braugher's death.

The Residence is set in the "upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs" of the White House. Cordelia Cupp, an eccentric detective, arrives on the premises in order to solve a murder that happened during the state dinner. During the investigation, interpersonal conflicts between 157 personnel of the residence start to unfold.

The series is also set to star Uzo Aduba, Susan Kelechi Watson, Jason Lee, Ken Marino, Edwina Findley, Randall Park, Molly Griggs, Al Mitchell, Dan Perrault, Spencer Garrett, Bronson Pinchot, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and Mary Wiseman.