Where You've Seen The Cast Of 2023's Night Court Before

There's another Gold Rush in California, but this time it's not gold everybody's mining out West, it's intellectual property. With seemingly every movie franchise and classic sitcom getting a reboot, revival, or dark and gritty remake, it's only a matter of time before your old favorite gets dusted off and given new life. The '80s legal sitcom "Night Court" is back on NBC, featuring the daughter of the original show's main character Harry Stone (Harry Anderson).

While the revival is still finding its footing, the response from critics has been generally positive. At the time of this writing, the show holds a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has received praise for retaining the "spirit" of the original. It's a bit too soon to bring the gavel down on this latest attempt at an '80s sitcom revival, but the producers have assembled a talented bunch of actors and laid some solid foundations.

With a new judge on the bench and a courtroom populated by an exciting new cast of supporting characters, viewers might find themselves pointing at the television and trying to figure out why that one actor looks so familiar. Keep reading to find out where you've seen the cast of the new "Night Court" before.

Melissa Rauch plays Judge Abby Stone on the new "Night Court." She's the daughter of Judge Harry Stone, who previously occupied the bench for the Manhattan Criminal Court's night shift. Abby brings the same approach to jurisprudence as her late father, treating those who appear before her as people first and foremost. Rauch was a huge fan of the original "Night Court," as she revealed during an interview with Glamour. "I have such a distinct memory of watching those opening credits with the iconic theme song playing," she said. "I vividly remember being transfixed by it in my childhood bedroom."

Rauch got her start in the 2006 film "Delirious" alongside Steve Buscemi. She followed up her big-screen debut with roles in the comedy shows "12 Miles of Bad Road" and the American remake of "Kath & Kim." After appearing briefly in the 2009 bro-mantic comedy "I Love You, Man," Rauch got her big break when she joined the cast of the CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" as recurring character Bernadette Rostenkowski during the show's third season. She was promoted to the main cast the following season and played Bernadette until the show's conclusion in 2019.

While she has worked primarily in television, Rauch has had several high-profile film projects as well. In 2015, she starred as Hope Ann Gregory in the sports comedy "The Bronze," and the following year she provided the voice of Francine in "Ice Age: Collision Course." Her voiceover resume also includes playing Harley Quinn in the 2017 animated film "Batman and Harley Quinn," and Gwen the Cat in "Cats & Dogs 3: Paws Unite." "Night Court" is her first major project since the end of "The Big Bang Theory."

British actor and singer India de Beaufort plays Olivia, the assistant district attorney assigned to Abby's court. In an interview with The Mary Sue, de Beaufort discussed why she was so excited to be cast in the "Night Court" reboot and how it continues the legacy of the original. "I think what we've done with 'Night Court' is we've carried over a place to disappear," she said. "The joy, the fun, the lighthearted spirit, but we've also made sure that as much as you're laughing, you're also occasionally crying and you're invested in these characters while you're kind of being taken out of the everyday life, which for the moment put a lot of us very serious."

De Beaufort got her start on British television in 2003 when she was cast as India on the family comedy "The Basil Brush Show." After leaving the kid-centric series in 2005 she had a starring role alongside Simon Pegg, Thandiwe Newton, and Hank Azaria in David Schwimmer's 2007 comedy film "Run, Fatboy, Run" before making her American television debut playing Sire Records employee Miranda Stone in "One Tree Hill."

Since then, de Beaufort has appeared in numerous television comedies, including "Chuck," "How I Met Your Mother," and "2 Broke Girls." In 2017, she joined the cast of the HBO political comedy "Veep" as reporter Brie Ramachandran. More recently she appeared alongside Zoe Kravitz in the 2022 crime thriller "Kimi," and she played Ms. Arya in the adventure comedy "Slumberland" the same year.

New Orleans native John Larroquette has been acting in film and television since the 1970s. In the "Night Court" reboot, Larroquette reprises his role as Dan Fielding from the original, a performance which netted him four Primetime Emmy awards. In the pilot episode of the revival, Dan, no longer a district attorney, is working as a process server before being convinced to return to court as a public defender by Abby Stone. Larroquette was initially apprehensive about reprising his role but was ultimately intrigued by the idea of exploring how his character had grown. "How often does an actor get a chance to revisit some character that he played three and a half decades ago?" he said during a TV Line interview.

Larroquette got his start as the narrator of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" in 1974. He had small roles in several TV shows in the late 1970s, including "Kojak," "Doctor's Hospital," and "Black Sheep Squadron." His first major film role came in 1981 when he played Captain Stillman in the Bill Murray war comedy "Stripes." In the 1980s, in addition to his role on "Night Court," he played the Klingon officer Maltz in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" and he was also in "Twilight Zone: The Movie," appearing in the "Time Out" segment.

After "Night Court," Larroquette got his own sitcom about a night shift on NBC: "The John Larroquette Show," in which he played recovering alcoholic John Hemingway. Following the show's cancellation after four seasons, he continued to appear regularly on television, popping up in shows like "The West Wing," "The Practice," "Arrested Development," and "House." Prior to reprising the role of Dan Fielding, Larroquette appeared as Gavin Firth in "The Good Fight."

Mononymous actor Lacretta plays Donna "Gurgs" Gurganous, the new bailiff in Abby's courtroom. When she read the script for the new show, she was drawn to how uniquely weird Gurgs was. "She's smart — she's just different from our typical big, Black woman, and I really want to embrace that," Lacretta told Theater Mania. "I've worked and gotten to the point in my skill and talent where I'm able to be honest as well and not just be weird for the sake of being weird."

Over the course of her relatively short career, Lacretta has worked primarily in theater. She played Gary Coleman in the puppet musical "Avenue Q" and was an ensemble member for the first national tour of the Trey Parker and Matt Stone musical comedy "The Book of Mormon." She also originated the role of Levora in the jukebox musical "Disaster!," which premiered on Broadway in 2016. However, "Night Court" isn't her first TV role.

Lacretta made her TV debut in 2012 when she appeared in an episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." She played Ronnie Pettus in the Season 13 episode "Street Revenge," in which the SVU tangles with a vigilante group. She went on to secure small roles in episodes of "30 Rock" and "Broad City." In 2018, she played the character Madame in the "Gotham" Season 4 episode "A Dark Knight: Pieces of a Broken Mirror" before getting cast in her first feature film, "Second Act," appearing alongside Jennifer Lopez and Vanessa Hudgens.

Kapil Talwalkar plays Abby's clerk Neil in the new "Night Court." In an interview with Bleeding Cool, he said that being cast on a multi-camera sitcom was something he had always dreamed about as a kid. "I grew up watching that kind of stuff, so it was surreal," he said before going on to praise star and executive producer Melissa Rauch. "Melissa is a unicorn of a human being. She creates the most amazing work environment ever. She's so positive, and she's like her character in so many ways that she plays."

Talwalkar came out of the gate hard and fast in 2015 with a starring role in "Love Pyar Whatever," a romantic comedy about an Indian student who travels to the United States hoping to find the woman of his dreams. That same year, he appeared in the film "Prep School," a drama about an elite rugby player who suffers a mental breakdown. His breakout role came in 2020 when he was cast as Tobin in the NBC musical comedy "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist," starring Jane Levy and Skylar Astin. He appeared in 24 of the 25 episodes and would reprise his role in the 2021 Christmas special "Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas."

Before being cast as Neil, Talwalkar appeared in an episode of Topher Grace's ABC sitcom "Home Economics" and provided the voice of Viju in the children's show "Mira, Royal Detective." If you're a fan of The CW, then you'll probably recognize Talwalkar from the "Charmed" reboot — he recurred as the Gandharva (magical beings that use singing to change their surrounding environment) Dev across six episodes in 2022.

Los Angeles native Kimia Behpoornia plays Maggie in the "Night Court" reboot. She has been active in the industry since 2012, when she played Shelley in the short film "Treasure." Since her acting debut, she has appeared regularly on television. In 2017, she plied her trade in two episodes of the loosely scripted comedy series "Drive Share." She also appeared in her first feature film that year, acting alongside Brie Larson (who directed), Samuel L. Jackson, and Joan Cusack in the Netflix original movie "Unicorn Store."

Her career really began to take off in 2019 when she played Rosie in the short-lived NBC sitcom "Abby's," appearing in all ten episodes. Two years later, she returned to the big screen, playing the part of Marie in the adventure comedy "Hero Mode" and landing the lead role of Emilou Paunch in the mockumentary film "Marathon." She had a major supporting role in the third season of "Atypical," popped up in the HBO comedy "Hacks," and recurred on the Hulu original comedy series "Reboot" before appearing in the first season of "Night Court" in 2023. She is also currently providing the voice of Watt in the PBS Kids show "City Island."

Actor and musician Dimiter Marinov appears in "Night Court" as Nikolai, the court's mysterious maintenance man. Per his website, he was originally a classical violinist in Bulgaria. Marinov began acting in ad campaigns when he moved to the United States in 1990. His first major role came in the 2012 war thriller "Act of Valor," where he shared the screen with real-life Navy SEALs. He followed up this role with small parts in numerous television shows including "NCIS," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," and the Marvel series "Agent Carter," in which he played the Soviet colonel Fyodor, an operative of the espionage agency Leviathan.

Marinov continued to work steadily in television into the late 2010s, landing roles in the Zach Galifianakis comedy series "Baskets" and HBO's dark comedy "Barry," starring Bill Hader. His big break would arrive in 2018 when he was cast as Dr. Shirley's cellist in the historical drama film "Green Book," starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen. The film would go on to win best picture at the Academy Awards, and Marinov became the first Bulgarian actor to walk the red carpet at the Oscars. More recently, he played the hotel manager in the 2021 crime drama "The Little Things," sharing the screen with Hollywood heavyweights Denzel Washington and Rami Malek.

Iris Bahr appears in the retooled "Night Court" as the supposed psychic Esmeralda the Magnificent. She's been active in film and TV since the turn of the millennium, first appearing as a Starfleet cadet in a 2001 episode of "Star Trek: Voyager." The New Yorker spent most of her early career appearing in one-off episodes of TV shows, including the Kevin James sitcom "The King of Queens" and the final season of the classic detective show "Columbo" in 2003. Her film debut came in 2006 when she landed the role of Amy Butlin in "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector." She snagged her first major movie role four years later when she played Iris Reisen in the horror film "The Last Exorcism." The same year, she created and starred in the comedy series "Svetlana," which ran for two seasons before being canceled.

One of her most recognizable characters is Rachel Heineman from Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." She played the devout Jew in three episodes of the long-running HBO comedy, famously jumping from a stalled ski-lift to avoid being stuck with David's character's after sundown. You may also recognize Bahr from "Irreversible," a comedy series about a couple trying to cope with a newborn baby. "I shot the first season when I was pregnant," she told Tablet magazine. "We had to hide my pregnancy, so that was fun. By the end, I looked like a truck and my face was so swollen." More recently, Bahr appeared in two episodes of ABC's "Roseanne" follow-up show "The Conners" and played Perla in the HBO comedy series "Hacks."

Brendan Jennings plays Howie in the second episode of the new "Night Court." A product of the illustrious Second City in Chicago, Jennings' improv background has gotten him numerous roles in TV comedies since 2013, when he appeared as Walt Koypond in a Season 5 episode of "Parks and Recreation." His other early TV roles include small parts in "Cougar Town" and "New Girl," and he was also cast in a sketch in the Netflix show "W/Bob and David" in 2015. Like his "Night Court" co-star Kimia Behpoornia, he also landed a role in "Drive Share" in 2017 before he was cast in a regular role on the Paramount comedy series "Nobodies" that same year.

In 2018, he briefly appeared in the "Breaking Bad" prequel series "Better Call Saul" as an office worker, then, two years later, he was cast in an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." After working in television for most of his career, he made his film debut in 2021, playing Clyde in the superhero comedy "Thunder Force," starring Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer. His most recent roles prior to "Night Court" were as Dale in "A.P. Bio," Dennis in "Superstore," and as Massacre Mike in the Netflix Comedy series "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window."

Will Hines plays the lawyer who gets served by John Larroquette's Dan Fielding in the pilot episode of "Night Court." Like Brendan Jennings, Hines got his start in the world of improv comedy. He's an alumnus of the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City and has written two books on improv, according to his website. His first major acting role came in 2006 when he played Clark in the comedy show "Sexual Intercourse: American Style." Three years later, he appeared with Donald Glover in the Derrick Comedy feature film "Mystery Team," playing Mr. Stevens alongside several other established improv actors.

Later in his career, Hines landed roles in a number of TV comedies, including "Broad City," "Community," and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," and he was featured in sketches on "Inside Amy Schumer." He is perhaps best known for playing Carl Krum in "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and Professor Bennett in "The Sex Lives of College Girls." Podcast fans may also know him from a series of appearances on Scott Aukerman's "Comedy Bang Bang." In addition to acting, Hines has released two albums as one half of the band Wayne & Rodney, which he created with fellow improviser Joel Spence. He also runs the online improv school The World's Greatest Improv School.

Al Bayan hadn't been acting for very long when he appeared in the second episode of "Night Court" in 2023. He got his start in the industry in 2018 when he played a coroner in an episode of "9-1-1" and since then he has appeared regularly on the small screen, popping up in a number of big shows. He followed up his debut role by appearing in 2019 episodes of "Good Girls," "Why Women Kill," and the Oprah Winfrey Network legal drama "All Rise."

In 2020, Bayan landed his biggest role to date, appearing in HBO's critically acclaimed dystopian science fiction series "Westworld." He played a behavior tech in the Season 3 episode "The Winter Line," in which Thandiwe Newton's Maeve tries to lobotomize herself due to the pain of being separated from her daughter. The following year Bayan played a security guard in the Netflix superhero series "Jupiter's Legacy," and he landed similar one-episode roles in "The Afterparty" and "Super Pumped" in 2022 as he continued to cement himself as a one-to-watch actor in Hollywood.