Aaron Tveit and Brandon Jay McLaren pitch a Graceland revival with a 10-minute short!

Graceland may be making an unexpected comeback as a new short by the cast could lead to a revival of the USA Network series!

The 2000s and 2010s had USA Network in their “blue sky” show period. These were light-hearted shows, mostly involving crime with great setups like Monk, Psych, Covert Affairs, White Collar and more. Amid all those, Graceland nicely stood out. 

Premiering in 2013, the show sounded like a reality TV setup. The title refers to a South California beach house with agents from the FBI, DEA, ICE, and others living together while handling a variety of assignments. The focus was on rookie FBI agent Mike Warren (Aaron Tveit), as his real job was to investigate the head of the house, Paul Briggs (Daniel Sunjata), of possible corruption.

The rest of the cast included Vanessa Ferlito, Serinda Swan and Brandon Jay McLaren as ICE agent Dale “Jakes” Jenkins. The show had a good following, mixing various mysteries together. It ended after three seasons on a cliffhanger where Jenkins cut off his trademark dreadlocks and left town with $9 million he’d skimmed from mobsters. 

That would have led to a fourth season, but sadly, USA Network canceled the show. However, it’s now been given new life as Tveit and McLaren teamed up for a 10-minute short called Nextland that premiered on YouTube.

The short picks up 21 months after the series finale with Jakes living a quiet life, wisely not spending his money wildly but seemingly a bit bored. Enter Mike to bring him up to speed on what’s going on with the other characters and then deliver a message. Without giving much away, the short ends with both men thinking their pasts are coming back for them. 

It was a fun reunion and might just lead the way to a revival of the show!

Could a Graceland revival happen?

Speaking to TVLine, Tveit and McLaren shared how the short came about. They related how they had figured there would be a season 4, only for Graceland to be canceled. There had even been rumors the show would move filming from Florida to Atlanta but it didn’t happen. 

In 2020, Tveit and McLaren were in Vancouver filming different projects (Turner & Hooch for McLaren and Schmigadoon! for Tveit).  “We were both there, and it was an opportunity for us to be face-to-face and come up with something and shoot it,” McLaren said.

For those wondering, Tveit confirmed they had hoped to get other cast members to join them, but that couldn’t happen due to scheduling conflicts.

"Sometimes you don’t realize how great situations are, our jobs are, but we actually all did. We all got along and had so much fun, and thought it was such a cool show that was ahead of its time. To get the chance in any way to revisit it, it’s just been so awesome."

Naturally, fans are eager to see if this leads to a revival. USA Network has been getting back into the scripted show game with the upcoming The Rainmaker and the possible revival of their hit White Collar. Tveit shared that Graceland creator Jeff Eastin was open to this short, and it could lead to more. 

"We sent it to Jeff and we didn’t know what the reaction was going to be, but he was super psyched and loved it and said it looked amazing. He was impressed with where the story was and said if this were to kick off something else, like a buddy show between these two characters, that would be so fun. This truly is a love letter, so we thought, why not put it out there and see what happens? If nothing happens, nothing happens. At least we showed that we did it."

A return of the show would be great. Even if they can’t get the full former cast together, it’d be a delight to see a new take on the series with new agents living together while Mike and Jakes try to redeem themselves for their past mistakes. The show deserved a better wrap-up than what we got, and the short shows how easily the actors can slip back into character and bring the tale back to life. 

So fans of Graceland are hopeful that this short may lead to a return of the cult crime show and be as fun as the original was. 

Graceland seasons 1-3 are streaming on Hulu. Stay tuned to Americans Undercover and follow us on X for more content!