ABC's New Rookie Spinoff Could Be the Franchise's Biggest Reinvention

A change is coming when Nathan Fillion's hit police drama The Rookie returns for a new season in early 2027. It will not be alone on the schedule. After the unceremonious end to The Rookie: Feds , a new spinoff is coming. Series creator Alexi Hawley told fans that The Rookie: North will essentially be the nascent franchise's biggest reinvention yet.

In some ways, the new series will be very familiar to fans. Unlike most police procedurals, which follow detectives as they work a single case, The Rookie: North focuses on "street level" stories. What will make it a dynamic change from the main series or The Rookie: Feds is that it will be set in a deeply rural part of Washington State.

About a year after ABC canceled Feds , reports of another The Rookie spinoff emerged, set in Washington State. Hawley cast Jay Ellis as Alex Holland. He decides to become a cop after surviving a violent home invasion and, you guessed it, is the oldest rookie on the force.

Whereas Nolan ran a successful contracting business, Holland had a different, more troubled history. Beyond filming in Vancouver, the rural setting adds a wrinkle not found in Los Angeles. Emergency services, SWAT, and police backup are never close by.

Feds filmed and took place in Los Angeles, which allowed for more crossover opportunities. In fact, many of the series regulars continue to appear on The Rookie when the FBI works with the LAPD. "I don't think it's a spoiler to say, there's a bit of crossover with Nathan in the pilot," the series creator said of the anticipated spinoff in a chat with Deadline. Beyond that first episode, he admitted "it's harder…with the Vancouver" location, but if "organic opportunities" arise, the characters and stories could intersect.

This is not to suggest the crossovers on The Rookie: Feds weren't earned or justified. After all, The Rookie differs from other network police franchises because it's not a typical procedural. Since both groups of characters operated in Los Angeles, it would have been strange if they didn't cross paths.

This remains true, at least considering how often Felix Solis reprises his role as Agent Garza. Still, frequent crossovers were more at home on the old "Arrowverse." For shows like Law & Order , NCIS , CSI, or other shared procedural universes, they are made more special because they are rare.

The rural setting for The Rookie: North isn't just about a tax break, either. There will be an entirely new dynamic both for the police drama and the extended cast. The show will be "visually very different" and "definitely stake its own identity," Hawley told CBR's sister site, ScreenRant . He made it clear the spinoff is "still a patrol show," which promises "anything can happen" each week.

The calls Holland and company take, however, will be markedly different than what Nolan and the Mid-Wilshire Police Division experience on the streets of L.A. This is arguably the most important detail that could help North succeed where Feds did not.

While nonetheless a criminally underrated procedural, The Rookie: Feds was not as untraditional as the main show. Ironically, the titular premise for these series is not what draws in the viewers. Even with a (somewhat contrived) extension of his training period, Nolan was no longer a rookie starting in Season 4.

It's not even the ensemble, because most shows boast talented casts of compelling characters. What sets The Rookie apart is its beat-cop approach. It avoids falling into a "crime of the week" formula, making it almost an anthology series.

One week, the whole team can rally around a citywide crisis. The next episode will feature multiple cases, ranging from the absurd to the heartbreaking. The FBI lacks that kind of workplace variety. Like Nolan, Simone was good at her job, so her mistakes weren't a major source of drama. This meant Feds needed to lean into crossover, such as the somewhat mysterious friendship between Lucy Chen and Agent Brendon Acres.

The best asset The Rookie: North has that Feds didn't is a similar level of narrative freedom. The rural setting will further help it step out from behind the original series' shadow.

Unlike many of its police drama peers, even when The Rookie gives in to its worst impulses, it does so with heart. The show often tackles social issues, particularly around hot-button issues. So the claim that ABC canceled The Rookie: Feds because of its focus on race, systemic injustice, and other such allegory is wrong.

The ratings were respectable when considering DVR and streaming viewership. Amid the 2023 Hollywood strikes, studios make questionable decisions to save money, including canceling shows they likely wouldn't otherwise.

Just like both of its predecessors, there's a diverse cast heading to The Rookie: North , too. The rural setting will surely involve the kinds of social issues both the original series and Feds tackled. These shows aren't about catching a case and then catching a criminal. Allegorical stories are unavoidable given the street-level focus, because the patrol officers face the victims as often as the criminals.

Not only that, what happens after an arrest is completely out of their control. This kind of human drama is a feature, not a "bug."

If The Rookie: North can successfully capture these elements, it will be as "good" as the main series. By bringing over this winning formula, the rural setting will create a visual and narrative distinction between The Rookie and other procedurals on television. In Los Angeles, Nolan and company can run into movie stars or deal with big city threats.

In the rural North, these new characters will face criminals and other challenges unique to the locale. It might catch on immediately like Twin Peaks or other series set in places that don't look like every other show. But if it doesn't, ABC just has to have a little patience and a little faith, both of which remain in short supply in Hollywood.

The Rookie: North is expected to debut in early 2027 with Season 9 of The Rookie proper on ABC. All the past seasons of The Rookie are currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.