Soon we could be hearing David Boreanaz’s voice saying “This is Jim Rockford. At the tone, leave your name and message; I’ll get back to you” every week.

Boreanaz, who played a (mostly) ensouled vampire on the WB’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel, as well as FBI agent Seeley Booth on Fox’s Bones, will star in the pilot of NBC’s remake of 1970s detective dramedy The Rockford Files.

The official logline of the pilot says, “Newly-paroled after doing time for a crime he didn’t commit, James Rockford returns to his life as a private investigator, using his charm and wit to solve cases around Los Angeles. It doesn’t take long for his quest for legitimacy to land him squarely in the crosshairs of both local police and organized crime.”

The role was originated by James Garner on the original NBC show from 1974-1980 and across six made-for-TV movies on CBS. Garner played the character as a man with a strong moral code who was perpetually short of cash, and better at talking his way out of trouble than fighting his way out. The show opened with Rockford’s answering machine message and a catchy theme song by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter.

Should the show go to series, and it no doubt will, Boreanaz could serve as a good luck charm for the fledgling drama. After Bones aired its final episode, Boreanaz starred in SEAL Team for CBS/Paramount, which ran for 7 seasons. All together he’s appeared in over 400 episodes of network television and had a starring role in a series nearly every year between 1997 and 2024.

The series comes from writer Mike Daniels (Sons of Anarchy), who will executive produce along with Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, and Boreanaz, for Universal Television. Though the show is set in Los Angeles, much of the pilot will be shot in Atlanta.