The 21st Century is the age of the franchise, from the big screen to the small screen. ABC’s hit police procedural The Rookie tried to branch out into a multi-series universe when it introduced a spinoff series following the FBI and starring Niecy Nash as Simone Clark. However, after a strong first season, The Rookie: Feds was canceled in 2023 for reasons that seem confusing but tie into the issues that caused the historic simultaneous strikes of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA unions.
The Rookie was inspired by the real-life story of William Norcross, who left his family’s printing business in Doylestown, PA to move to LA and become a cop. While there, his friend from college, Jon Steinberg adapted the stories Norcross told him with Hawley, and thus The Rookie was born. At the end of Season 4, a two-episode backdoor pilot aired introducing Simone Clark, her family, and a similar premise as the parent series. However, by casting Niecy Nash, The Rookie: Feds was able to tell stories about the challenges a woman of color faced in the same situation while working on an entirely different level of law enforcement.
Updated July 17, 2024, by Joshua M. Patton: Since the cancelation of The Rookie: Feds, Nash has gone on to win an Emmy for her role in Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffery Dahmer Story and star in Origin, a film by Ava DuVernay. Still, despite the spinoff’s unfortunate fate, The Rookie was renewed for a sixth and seventh season. Because this corner of that universe goes on, the story might not be completely finished for The Rookie: Feds.
How The Rookie: Feds Was Greenlit and Developed
After the end of Black-ish, ABC wanted to bolster its network television franchises by spinning off The Rookie with a new, FBI-focused show. Hawley tapped Terence Paul Winter to executive produce, along with Norcross, Corey Miller, Michelle Chapman, Nash, and Fillion. The characters debuted in The Rookie episodes “Simone” and “Enervo,” which introduced Clark as the oldest FBI trainee in history. She had a connection to a bomber who would only speak to her, and with encouragement from John Nolan, she proved herself a capable agent. The series premiered the following fall on Sept. 27, 2022.
The first season featured multiple crossovers with The Rookie. The first came early with Episode 4, “To Die For,” and featured Eric Winter’s Tim Bradford. Fillion himself took part in a crossover episode for the mid-season premiere with Episode 10, “The Silent Prisoner.” The series also used characters and storylines from The Rookie, such as serial killer Rosalind Dyer, played by the late Annie Wersching. Multiple characters crossed over in Episodes 17, “Payback” and 21, “Bloodline.”
The Rookie: Feds was meant to feel like a true extension of the parent show, crossing over more than Arrow and The Flash did in their first seasons on air together. Still, the series itself was strong, featuring big, flashy cases meant to capture viewers’ attention. Meanwhile, Nash and her costars were developed with complex relationships that would’ve grown with the show like those on the parent series.
The Rookie: Feds Earned Strong Ratings for Its First Season
The Rookie consistently earns 3-5 million viewers per episode, save for the bulk of the fourth season which dipped into 2-million-viewer territory. This was obviously the bar The Rookie: Feds was trying to reach; while it didn’t equal The Rookie’s highs for live viewing, it did very well for a first season, especially on streaming. For example, the series premiere earned 2.2 million viewers on its debut, but after 35 days its multiplatform viewing total was 9.2 million. This was ABC’s strongest series debut since fall 2020, according to Deadline.
The Rookie: Feds continued to earn wins for ABC, with its mid-season premiere earning 6.6 million viewers over its first seven days across platforms. It was the highest-rated Tuesday show since fall of 2020 for the network. “The Silent Prisoner” was part of a programming block for ABC that found it ranked number one in the coveted 18-49 demographic targeted by advertisers on television, on-demand, and streaming. On paper, this series was a surefire hit and should’ve sailed to a Season 2 renewal and been given the chance to continue to find a wider, non-traditional broadcast TV audience.
The viewership for The Rooke: Feds dipped after the series premiere to below 2 million. After the mid-season premiere, it never fell below that number again. In fact, the unintentional series finale earned 2.98 million viewers, making a strong case for renewal. However, The Rookie: Feds Season 1 finale debuted on May 2, 2023 — the same day the WGA union called its strike. A month or so later, SAG-AFTRA joined WGA on the picket line.
Did the WGA and SAG-AFTRA Strikes Cause ABC to Cancel The Rookie: Feds?
Almost a month after the WGA strike was called, The Rookie: Feds was “a safe bet” for renewal. Nash is a sought-after actor, having won an Emmy for her supporting role in the scripted limited series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The WGA strike ended in September 2023, and the SAG-AFTRA strike ended Nov. 9, 2023. In another bit of unfortunate coincidence, this was the same day ABC announced The Rookie: Feds was canceled.
Most saw the series as a casualty of the studio losses during the strike, including Alexi Hawley. At the Television Critics Association to promote Season 6 of The Rookie, he spoke a little about his feelings on the decision. “A lot had to do with the forces that led to strike … I do feel it was not a creative decision. It was a business decision,” he said according to Deadline. He wouldn’t say more but did suggest that in future seasons of The Rookie, characters from the Feds side of the universe could appear for guest spots.
It’s not the fault of the strikes that The Rookie: Feds was canceled by ABC, but rather the way studios seem to be fleeing the streaming economy when they began. The live ratings were lower than The Rookie’s, but the show performed very well on DVR, on-demand, and streaming. Feds aired one hour earlier than The Rookie, as well, which means fewer people can tune in live. However, with writers and actors winning a bigger slice of that part of the programming pie, it’s no wonder the studios aren’t leaning into digital success stories like they did in the past. There’s also could be a more disturbing reason for the cancelation, too.
Why The Rookie: Feds Was an Important and Controversial Series
The Rookie: Feds was an important series for representation, and it was the only one-hour broadcast series led by a Black actor. Not only that, Simone Clark’s family gave the series recurring characters with perspectives less diverse dramas rarely include. Niecy Nash’s real-life wife Jessica Betts appeared in a trio of episodes as Dina Jackson, Simone’s love interest. Her father, Christopher Clark, played by Luke Cage’s Frankie Faison, was wrongly incarcerated for most of Simone’s life. He doesn’t just distrust law enforcement but was an active supporter of the movement to defund the police force and funnel those resources to other civil services.
For some, this may have made The Rookie: Feds “too political,” but any series about agents of the state arguably is inherently a political show. It’s far too common for shows that tell diverse stories about historically (and presently) underrepresented social demographics to be called “controversial” simply for including those characters. Critics and even audiences will see the antics Simone pulls as the series’ protagonist as over-the-top or unbelievable despite white, male characters doing similar or more outlandish things in their own series. That a woman whose own father was wrongly incarcerated would be committed to the American system of justice is, perhaps, the most unbelievable aspect of the series.
Part of The Rookie’s success, however, has little to do with its lead. The character relationships like Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen are what drive viewers to the show week-to-week. Yet, those relationships that have hooked a loyal audience weren’t built in the first season. They grew over dozens of episodes, and The Rookie: Feds could’ve done that, too. Everything about this series, from its cast to its ratings success, was nontraditional and unlike what’s typically found on broadcast television. As networks scramble to maintain viewers and their own relevance in the business, series like The Rookie: Feds are the kinds of shows that would help them survive.
Yet, things may not be completely over for The Rookie: Feds — or, at least, the characters in the series. While series lead Nash is busy with other projects, some of her cast mates showed up on The Rookie Season 6 finale. When the Mid-Wilshire Police Department finds a mole in their midst, they turn to the FBI for help. Felix Solis reprises his role as Matthew Garza. Britt Robertson comes back as Laura Stensen and Kevin Zegers is back as Brendon Acres. Showrunner Alexi Hawley had to get permission from ABC to include the characters, however, and the network agreed. “I also didn’t want to just use them to use them. I felt like we needed to earn it, and so yes, that’s why it felt like once we got international, once we got to Monaco, it made sense,” he told TVLine. So, while crossovers may not happen as often anymore, the characters from The Rookie: Feds will live on in the main series and even appear if the actors are available and the story is right.
