Will Trent’s Painful Pause: The Shocking Reason Season 4 Is Stuck Waiting for 2026

With the 2025–2026 network TV season upon us, new shows are debuting for the first time, while old ones are making their way back on the air, but fans must wait a little longer for two popular ABC series. Most network TV shows return in the fall, a few months following their spring finales. However, that’s not always the case.

There are only so many time slots, meaning that networks can’t fit all their series into their schedules at once. As a result, some get delayed to mid-season (aka the winter). Every choice is deliberate, though, as the big networks — CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox — plan their lineups for the new TV season. Unfortunately, one of ABC’s decisions was to delay two top-rated shows.

ABC Is Delaying The Rookie Season 8 & Will Trent Season 4 To 2026 Winter Premiere

ABC Is Holding The 2 Police Procedurals For Mid-Season

Following their back-to-back finales on May 13, The Rookie and Will Trent aren’t scheduled to return in the fall of 2025. Instead, ABC is holding the two cop TV shows for its mid-season schedule. Essentially, The Rookie season 8 and Will Trent season 4 will not premiere until January 2026 (eight months after their respective previous finales) at the earliest.

As mentioned above, it’s not uncommon for networks to delay the release dates for their original programming. In fact, it’s becoming more and more common, particularly because network executives are handing out shorter episode counts — for example, a 13-episode order instead of the standard 22. That won’t make the wait for The Rookie season 8 and Will Trent season 4 any easier, though.

Why The Rookie Season 8 & Will Trent Season 4 Are Being Delayed Despite Being ABC’s Top Shows

The Rookie & Will Trent Premieres Were Also Delayed Last Season

Yes, The Rookie and Will Trent are among ABC’s top-rated TV series. Still, the network has a good reason for pushing its upcoming premieres back to mid-season. In fact, multiple explanations can account for The Rookie season 8 and Will Trent season 4’s delays, including their respective track records, especially during the 2024–2025 network TV season.

For The Rookie season 7 and Will Trent season 3, ABC experimented with the two police procedurals’ release schedules. The network decided to shelve them for mid-season and air them back-to-back on Tuesday nights, starting in January 2025, and the test was an all-out success. The Rookie‘s average viewership was up by 13 percent, while Will Trent‘s increased 21 percent (per TVLine).

As Disney Television Group President Craig Erwich told TVLine, ABC’s scheduling plan for The Rookie season 7 and Will Trent season 3 “worked like gangbusters.” So, the network is seemingly not trying to fix a thing that’s not broken by recycling its programming strategy for The Rookie and Will Trent during the 2025–2026 season, which is the main reason behind their delays.

Erwich even went as far as to compare The Rookie and Will Trent‘s accomplishments on Tuesday nights to ABC’s historically successful Thursday nights. For a long time, the network’s time slots on Thursdays have dominated. Now, though, Erwich claims that Tuesdays have stepped up to Thursdays’ level, and it’s all thanks to The Rookie season 7 and Will Trent season 3.

Additionally, The Rookie season 8 and Will Trent season 4’s delays can be attributed to ABC’s full schedule for the fall of 2025. Scripted TV series like High Potential, 9-1-1, 9-1-1: Nashville (a new 9-1-1 spinoff), Grey’s Anatomy, Abbott Elementary, and Shifting Gears are taking up spots, along with non-scripted shows like Dancing with the Stars and The Golden Bachelor.

ABC will also be home to Monday Night Football this fall, which takes up three time slots. As one can see, the network already has a full lineup for the fall of 2025. There isn’t room for The Rookie season 8 and Will Trent season 4, especially with Dancing with the Stars season 34 airing for two hours on Tuesday nights.

Why The Rookie & Will Trent Are Better Off As Mid-Season Shows

The 2 Shows Have Been Successful In Mid-Season

Of course, waiting eight months for The Rookie season 8 and Will Trent season 4 might be excruciating for some. Both police procedurals’ previous seasons ended on cliffhangers, after all. However, the delay is for the best. And it could be much worse. The hiatus could have spanned years, like the wait for new seasons of Stranger Things, Bridgerton, and other streaming series.

Ultimately, The Rookie and Will Trent are better off as mid-season TV shows, just look at their viewership totals. For one reason or another, debuting the two series in the winter instead of the fall has brought new viewers in, increasing their ratings. They have also benefited from airing back-to-back and having the same schedule.

Similar to their most recent seasons, The Rookie season 8 and Will Trent season 4 will each contain 18 episodes, all of which are expected to air weekly with little to no interruptions. However, if one has a week off, so will the other. This system worked during ABC‘s 2024–2025 season, so it should be the same for the network’s 2025–2026 programming schedule.

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