EXCLUSIVE: Rockmond Dunbar has joined the recurring cast of Peacock‘s upcoming limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, starring and executive produced by Kevin Hart. This marks Dunbar’s first acting job since he was terminated from 9-1-1 in 2021 over not complying with the studio’s Covid vaccine mandate after his requests for a medical and religious exemptions were rejected. The actor subsequently filed a $1M lawsuit against Disney over the firing, with the case now headed to trial.
Fight Night tells the infamous story of how an armed robbery during the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight changed not only one man’s life, but an entire city’s destiny.
Dunbar will play Uncle Willie, who owns an autobody shop but his real job is as the top fence in the area. He joins an ensemble cast led by Hart, Samuel L. Jackson and Terrence Howard.
Fight Night, set in Atlanta, is created and written by Shaye Ogbonna based on the eponymous podcast from iHeartPodcasts, Doghouse Pictures and Will Packer Media. Ogbonna and Jason Horwitch serve as showrunners; they exec produce alongside Hart, Bryan Smiley and Mike Stein for Hart’s Hartbeat, Packer and Sabrina Wind for Will Packer Media, Conal Byrne, Will Pearson and Carrie Lieberman for iHeartPodcasts, Jeff Keating and Lars Jacobson. Hartbeat’s Tiffany Brown and Studio 43’s Kenny Burns will co-executive produce. The series comes from Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
Dunbar was a series regular on 9-1-1 since the start, playing Michael Grant for more than four years since his abrupt exit from the show sever episodes into Season 5. Since then, he has appeared in the movie Red Winter and an episode of The Game, which he had filmed prior. The actor is repped by Mainstay Entertainment and Greene Talent.