The police procedural drama, The Rookie, has become one of the most popular dramas on ABC since its premiere in October 2018. Having released a truncated sixth season which featured only 10 episodes due to the WAG and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023, the procedural is set to make a comeback in season 7 with more episodes. The Rookie stars Nathan Fillion as John Nolan, a man who embarks on a new career as a police officer after a life-changing injury. The Alexi Hawley series has gone from strength to strength throughout its duration on screen, and its popularity was tested with its first spin-off, The Rookie: Feds. Unfortunately, the popularity of the original show didn’t translate to the spinoff as it was canceled after only one season at the end of last year.
Despite how things panned out for The Rookie: Feds, original series star, Eric Winter, who plays Officer Tim Bradford, has revealed that he hopes to see more spinoffs of the popular ABC drama. While discussing how The Rookie universe might be further expanded, Winter suggests a potential reason regarding why the spinoff wasn’t eagerly received. Speaking to RadioTimes, the actor said:
“I think there’s a possibility for more, for sure. Feds kind of had its own flow that was a little different than the original Rookie and I think that if there’s another spin off, it’ll probably lean in more to that cadence and flow that we have on our show.”
“It’d be fun to see what they have in store, if they actually spin-off a character from the original or if they just bring somebody brand new. I don’t know, but I think I think another spin-off could be a lot of fun, and I hope it does happen to build the universe.”
The Rookie: Feds, just like with the original series, followed a police officer who many considered a bit too old to be joining the force when they did. Niecy Nash-Betts’s Simone Clark, the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy, a character who audiences were first introduced to in Season 4 of the original series. Throughout the show’s only season, Simone is constantly having to prove herself as being worthy of her position within the force.
An Extended Season 7 For ‘The Rookie’
While we wait on what spinoffs may emerge from the original series going forward, we can look forward to a seventh season, which began production last month. Regarding the coming season, showrunner Hawley revealed that audiences would enjoy more episodes this season. Hawley said, “I do think we’ll go back to being more of a standalone show with serialized elements,” showrunner Alexi Hawley told me, “because it’s going to be a longer season and I think people really do like that. Also, there are the many different ways we tell stories — whether it’s the big event-type episodes, the more rom-com episodes, or with a big guest star — so it’ll be fun to go back to that.”
