It looks like fans of ABC and Alexi Hawley‘s The Rookie will be getting a Season 8 preview coming soon – and the news dropped in a very smooth way. Earlier today, Melissa O’Neil took to TikTok to share a video of herself, Nathan Fillion, Eric Winter, Lisseth Chavez, Mekia Cox, and Alyssa Diaz showing off their moves in celebration. What were they celebrating? They know when our next look at the eighth season is going to be – and they’re pretty damn happy about it.
Here’s a look at O’Neil’s post from earlier today, with ABC’s The Rookie set to return on January 6th:
In addition, we’ve included a look at the Season 8 cast portraits and previously released Season 8 teaser::
- ABC’s “The Rookie” stars Nathan Fillion as John Nolan. (Disney/John Russo)
- ABC’s “The Rookie” stars Jenna Dewan as Bailey Nune. (Disney/John Russo)
- ABC’s “The Rookie” stars Eric Winter as Tim Bradford. (Disney/John Russo)
- ABC’s “The Rookie” stars Melissa O’Neil as Lucy Chen. (Disney/John Russo)
- ABC’s “The Rookie” stars Shawn Ashmore as Wesley Evers. (Disney/John Russo)
- ABC’s “The Rookie” stars Alyssa Diaz as Angela Lopez. (Disney/John Russo)
- ABC’s “The Rookie” stars Richard T. Jones as Wade Grey. (Disney/John Russo)
- ABC’s “The Rookie” stars Lisseth Chavez as Celina Juares. (Disney/John Russo)
- ABC’s “The Rookie” stars Mekia Cox as Nyla Harper. (Disney/John Russo)
- ABC’s “The Rookie” stars Deric Augustine as Miles Penn. (Disney/John Russo)
The Rookie/SDCC: Fillion & Hawley Preview Season 8 & More
“I have friends who are good actors in their own right. They’re calling me saying, ‘Hey, man, my daughter just turned 11, and she and her friends are all crazy about ‘The Rookie.’ Can I please have a birthday with you?’ I love that,” Fillion shared about the show’s success with multigenerational viewing audiences during his San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2025 panel earlier this summer
“I think that ultimately television, specifically television with lots of episodes with characters that you can really invest in, has become comfort food for people,” added Hawley. “There’s 1,000 shows on the air, but it does feel like people sort of grab lots of shows that they look forward to watching. They’re an escape. I take that very seriously. It doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen on our show, that there aren’t stakes, that we don’t go dark sometimes. People really look to us as an important storm.”
After a sizzle reel was screened, spotlighting the trip to Prague in the Season 8 opener, as well as a number of new and returning cast members. “In the first episode, we go to Prague and [John] becomes James Bond in the episode. We have a lot of exciting stories for [the cast] this season,” Fillion teased. Here’s a look at the official image gallery that was released from this weekend’s SDCC panel:
