Andy Samberg has promised the new season of 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' wont "shy away" from "serious problems" within the police

He told Variety: "The challenge is going to be being honest about what is going on in the world and not shying away from the fact that there are serious problems and also not punishing viewers who like our show and care about our characters.

"Our characters need to examine their roles in the world. They’re going to be forced to look in the mirror and see who they’re complicit with.”

But the actor pointed out that the show has never shied away from social issues in the past.

He said: "We’ve certainly never acted as if all police are innocent outside of our squad. In fact, I think we have a ton of episodes that are specifically about how there’s a lot of corruption and breaking protocol."

And Andy insisted it isn't solely down to the programme to "solve this problem" within wider society.

He added: "I think it’s important for us and for anyone watching our show to keep in mind if we’re looking for a half-hour comedy show to be the ones to solve this problem, we’re in trouble. Our job is pointing out that stuff isn’t getting done right and spreading the word that we’re (really) hopeful that it can get better.”

In June, Andy's co-star Terry Crews revealed four new episodes had been scrapped following protests against police brutality.

He said: "Our showrunner Dan Goor, they had like four episodes all ready to go — they just threw them in the trash. They’re like, ‘We’ve got to start over.'

“Right now, we don’t know which direction we’re going to go in, but we do know that we’ve had a lot of sombre talks, we’ve had a lot of very, very deep conversations, and through this we hope to bring something that could really, really truly be groundbreaking this year.

“We have an opportunity here and we plan to use it in the best, best way possible.”