Brooklyn Nine-Nine's ending.

best episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine included stars who weren't usually present in the show.

20 Danny Trejo

Trejo Appears As Rosa’s Tough Father

When shows make it to 100 episodes, they tend to do something special for their audience. For a lot of shows that often involves flashing back to important moments in the series’ lore. For Brooklyn Nine-Nine, however, that means bringing in a big guest star or two for a more emotional episode.

Danny Trejo is primarily known for playing tough guys in action movies. He has translated that persona into kids and family movies as well, like the Spy Kids franchise. Here, he does that as well as Rosa’s father. When Rosa decides to come out as bisexual to her coworkers, she also asks Jake to help her with her family. Her father does not initially take it well, allowing Trejo to play a more emotionally complex character than he usually does, as he eventually accepts Rosa and reveals how much he loves her.

19 Maya Rudolph

Rudolph Appears As A US Marshall Intent On Keeping Holt And Peralta Safe

Throughout the run of the show, several Saturday Night Live alumni make appearances. Their sketch comedy background and rapport with Andy Samberg make them a natural fit for the show’s comedy style, like Maya Rudolph.

Maya Rudolph guest starred in the series as a US Marshall while Holt and Peralta were living under assumed names and hiding out from Jimmy “The Butcher” Figgis. She popped up in surprising meeting places, like the movie theater, to test the two officers with pop quizzes about their new identities. Rudolph’s line delivery and her ability to make even a mundane story hilarious are what made her stand out in her two appearances.

Though she is mentioned beyond those two appearances, and fans might have liked to see her again, she did not make any other appearances in the show before it ended.

18 Sterling K. Brown

Sterling K. Brown Appears As An Intense Suspect

While most of the guest stars in the series are already known for their comedic chops, Sterling K. Brown is not usually associated with comedy. Instead, he is known for his work in more dramatic roles. Earlier in his career, he had recurring roles in genre projects like Supernatural, but recently, he is best known for being part of the This Is Us ensemble. He won an Emmy and was nominated for four more for the drama.

His appearance in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, however, is a more dramatic one than the show is usually known for. It also takes place in the episode “The Box,” which is mostly a bottle episode, one in which the storyline takes place in a single location. In this case, that single location is an interrogation room.

Brown plays suspect Dr. Philip Davidson, a dentist who is incredibly smart, but Jake is sure he is the culprit. Brown gets to play up the character’s arrogance with some impressive monog, making him a fun scene partner for Samberg in a way that is completely different from the other guest stars in the show.

Brown was nominated for an Emmy for his guest appearance.

17 Marshawn Lynch

Marshawn Lynch Appears As An Exaggerated Version Of Himself

Marshawn Lynch has been steadily building up his acting resume with some fun projects. He has appeared as himself in the improv mystery comedy Murderville alongside Will Arnett and as a teacher in the big screen teen comedy Bottoms. Before both of those, however, he played an exaggerated version of himself in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Lynch appears as a witness to the crash of a bus carrying prison inmates. Unfortunately, he is preoccupied with the wrong order he got from a restaurant and does not really pay attention to what is going on around him. His obsession with his order leads to a fun gag for him.

Lynch is known as a football player who does not like to participate in press interviews. The show played that up with Rosa commenting on him being like “a vault,” but then proceeded to have him recount everything that went wrong with his food order. It’s a nice tongue-in-cheek nod to Lynch’s own avoidance of answering questions during team press conferences, a practice he was actually fined for during his time in the NFL. It’s nice to see that Lynch does not mind making fun of himself and is still having a good time on camera.

16 Reginald VelJohnson

Jake Makes An Enemy of Reginald VelJohnson

...a hilarious way to use VelJohnson’s history in the industry to the show’s advantage.

In addition to SNL alumni and athletes playing themselves, there are also some iconic sitcom actors in the series. Reginald VelJohnson who is known as one of the best TV dads thanks to his role on Family Matters, has also played a lot of law enforcement in his career. That makes him a fun addition to an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

When Boyle arranges a bachelor party for Jake ahead of his wedding to Amy, he creates an elaborate series of challenges for a scavenger hunt for the group. When the group attempts to skip all of those challenges to head straight for the final destination, Boyle is upset, and Jake attempts to retrace Boyle’s steps, only to end up at Reginald VelJohnson’s house.

It’s revealed that VelJohnson is actually a part of the scavenger hunt, and he becomes annoyed that Jake and his friends tried to skip past all of Boyle’s hard work. Even after Jake and Boyle reconcile, VelJohnson dislikes Jake, holding a grudge, and even tells Jake that he now sees him as an enemy and will tell Bruce Willis as much. It’s a hilarious way to use VelJohnson’s history in the industry to the show’s advantage.

15 Pete Davidson

Davidson played an unruly youth who derailed Amy Santiago's presentation

As well as being a platform for established stars, Brooklyn Nine-Nine also served as a vehicle for at least one up-and-comer. During his brief appearance in season 1, episode 3, "The Slump," Pete Davidson's Brooklyn Nine-Nine character starts a misguided debate about racism among his peers during a talk by Amy. The episode first aired in 2013, meaning Davidson's appearance on the sitcom predates his Saturday Night Live debut by a year.

His appearance works as one of the funniest among the guest stars largely because of how the rest of the characters in the scene react to him. Davidson's interruptions and ability to capture everyone else's attention is pretty effortless.

Pete Davidson's character on Brooklyn Nine-Nine was called Steve.

14 Adam Sandler

He played himself and heckled Jake Peralta

Jake's sting operation is almost ruined by Adam Sandler in Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 1, episode 15, "Operation: Broken Feather." Stepping into the shoes of a fictionalized and particularly abrasive version of himself, Sandler belittles Peralta's auctioneering skills as well as defending his own unexpected presence at the event.

The series got a surprising number of stars to play exaggerated versions of themselves, but their connections to others appearing on the show might have helped that happen - especially in this case. Better known for his film career, the actor rarely appears in TV shows, but working with Andy Samberg in the 2012 movie That's My Boy, may have made Adam Sandler's Brooklyn Nine-Nine cameo possible.

13 John C. McGinley

McGinley's Frank O'Sullivan is the head of the police union

Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 8 brought sitcom royalty on board as they cast John C. Ginley as one of the final installment's main villains. Most known by TV fans today for his role as Dr. Perry Cox in Scrubs, McGinley's character in Brooklyn Nine-Nine doesn't exactly play against type, but he definitely exaggerates the negative qualities that he gave to Dr. Cox. In the role of head of the police union, McGinley portrays Frank O'Sullivan as just as stubborn and arrogant as his Scrubs counterpart.

12 J.K. Simmons

Frank Dillman was the best detective that Captain Holt ever knew

Simmons straddles the world of movies and TV, making appearances on both the big and small screen. Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 7, episode 9, "Dillman," allowed the actor to pad his resume even further. As former detective Frank Dillman, Simmons brings his signature brand of authority to the world of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, only this time with a comic twist.

J.K. Simmons is best known for portraying J. Jonah Jameson in multiple Spider-Man projects.

11 Bill Hader

Hader's Captain Dozerman had a brief spell in charge of the precinct

Following Captain Holt's promotion, the Nine-Nine needed a new leader. For a while, there was a revolving door of commanding officers, which allowed the show to have quite a few different guest stars. One of these new captains was Seth Dozerman, played by Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader. Dozerman's authoritarian regime didn't go down well with the detectives.

Holt might have run a tight ship among his staff, but he had earned their respect and still allowed them moments of levity, like with their Halloween heists. Dozerman's anger ended up being his end as he suffered a heart attack while reprimanding Jake and Amy for their office romance.

Bill Hader's sole appearance in Brooklyn Nine-Nine took place in season 3, episode 1, "New Captain."