It’s never been completely explained why The Rookie begins in Pennsylvania just for its protagonist to set up shop in Los Angeles, but there are actually a few reasons that move needed to happen. And, considering how far John Nolan has come by The Rookie season 7 finale, it’s interesting to look back at just how his coast-hopping journey began.
Unlike most of The Rookie cast, John never previously aspired to serve. He left Pennsylvania for LA three months after risking his life to foil a bank robbery, but the reason for that long move remains unexplained. But as The Rookie season 8 pushes his story forward, it’s worth looking back at how (and why) Nolan found himself in California.
John Nolan’s Cross-Country Move In The Rookie Mirrors Real-Life Inspiration William Norcross
They Both Left Pennsylvania To Put Down Roots In Los Angeles
When The Rookie first introduces John Nolan, he’s in the thick of what Sergeant Grey openly labels a midlife crisis. He just got divorced after years of unhappiness, and he’s spent at least two decades in construction despite majoring in pre-law. Ultimately, seeing the cops arrive after nearly being shot during a bank heist is the wakeup call he needs.
But other than the knack for bravery and quick thinking that he demonstrates while distracting the bank robber, it’s not clear that Nolan has ever considered police work. Grey says to Nolan’s face that he considers him a danger to the other cops, and not just because he has the highest cholesterol of any past rookie at the Mid-Wilshire Station.
From all this, it might seem as if the move to Los Angeles from Foxburg is all just part of Nolan’s life crisis. In reality, The Rookie is based on real-life LAPD officer William Norcross. Much like John Nolan, Norcross left Pennsylvania in his 40s to join the police force in Los Angeles, although no bank robberies inspired his move.
In Norcross’ case, becoming a cop was more about fulfilling a dream. He had also been stuck in the wrong industry for twenty years, but it was only because his mother’s death pressured him into moving home to help out with the family business. When he finally decided to live his dream, he chose Los Angeles for a very specific reason.
The LAPD Is One Of Few Major Cities With No Upper Age Limit For Becoming A Cop
Seattle Appears To Be Joining The Franchise For The Same Reason
Upper age limits for police work are actually becoming less common in light of shifting views towards law enforcement in recent years, with the entire state of Texas removing their previous limit of 44 as recently as 2023. Generally speaking, however, jurisdictions with upper age limits prevent people from joining the force within approximately 20 years of reaching retirement age.
Part of the reason for this is strictly financial. Sticking a badge on someone who’s already close to retirement means the city risks having to pay them out before getting optimal mileage out of them. Additionally, it’s often assumed that those joining the force later in life won’t be as physically fit for service.
While numerous jurisdictions have already phased out these upper age limits or are in the process of doing so, they were much more common when William Norcross made his own midlife career change, making Los Angeles one of the clearest options. Norcross also chose Los Angeles because they offer an expedited training program, as he explains in his own words:
“[Becoming a police officer] was something I had always thought about in the back of my mind…then, all of the sudden, I wake up and I’m 40-something years old and I figured if I was ever going to make a change, that now was the time to do it. I looked around; I always thought about LA—the LAPD has no age limit, as long as you can pass the requirements—and I saw they had expedited testing where you can cram a couple of months of testing into one week, and that’s how it started.”
This is also very likely why upcoming spinoff The Rookie North takes place in Washington, where there’s also no maximum age limit as long as applicants meet the physical requirements for the job. Meanwhile, the general upper age limit in Pennsylvania is 40, the exact same age as John Nolan, although there are currently numerous municipal precincts without this requirement.
John Trading Pennsylvania For LA Symbolizes The Rookie’s Fish-Out-Of-Water Story
He’s A Small-Town Man Dealing With Big City Police Issues
The pilot is often overlooked as one of The Rookie’s best episodes, but it’s arguably one of the most efficiently written scripts in the entire series. Less than halfway through, it’s firmly established that Nolan looks at people in a more individualized and humanistic way than one might expect from a big city beat cop.
It makes sense, given where he’s from. The Rookie sets its opening scene in Foxburg, meaning Nolan moved from a town of 178 people with a nearly 100% White population to overcrowded, ethnically diverse Los Angeles. It’s also a city many outsiders consider dangerous, despite the Los Angeles Times uncovering that the LAPD under-reported violent crimes for eight whole years.
Even removing William Norcross from the equation, this is one of the most compelling aspects of Nolan’s character. He spends much of the early seasons getting lectured by Bishop and Harper for not seeing the bigger picture, like when he spends half their shift in episode 5 trying to find a bed for a single homeless woman and her son.
Watching Nolan learn to adapt his small-town frame of mind to his work as an urban cop, and then subsequently impart that knowledge to Celina, is what keeps The Rookie fresh, so many years after its title has become largely irrelevant. Nolan’s cross-country move is an inextricable part of that equation. The show simply wouldn’t be the same without it.
