Actor Dermot Mulroney (R) and a guest pose at the 2009 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in West Hollywood, California February 22, 2009. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Dermot Mulroney is NBC’s new Jim Rockford.

In his first regular TV role, Mulroney is set to play the iconic private eye in the network’s updated take on the hit 1970s drama that starred James Garner in the title role.

The new Jim Rockford is described as “slightly crumpled, wry humored, cynical, world weary, compassionate when it’s called for and easily irritated by morons.”

His troubled past includes doing some time as a convict and as a cop.

Aside from an arc on NBC’s “Friends” in 2003, “My Best Friend’s Wedding” co-star Mulroney has been focused on features, most recently appearing in “Burn After Reading.”

NBC’s “Rockford Files” was written by “House” creator David Shore, who is executive producing with Steve Carell.