The rookie is on the move… again. The hit ABC crime series starring Nathan Fillion will premiere its ninth season on January 6 in a new period, on a new night, Wednesday at 9 p.m. This will serve as a starting point for new spinoffs The Recruit: Northheadlined by Jay Ellis, which will debut on the same date and air Wednesdays at 10 p.m.
The news was revealed in a video shown at New York Comic-Con on Sunday, which gave a first look at the show’s new seasons, including John Nolan (Fillion) & Co.’s mission to rescue LAPD team members Tim (Eric Winter) and Lucy (Melissa O’Neil), who were kidnapped during the Season 8 finale cliffhanger.
During the Beginner NYCC Universe panel, Alexi Hawley, creator, executive producer and showrunner of both series, announced that Troian Bellisario, Dulé Hill And Molly Kunz will be a featured guest in The rookiee Season 9 as new recruits, Watch Commander and EMT, respectively, and confirmed that Andy Allo will guest star in the first season of The recruit: North.
This is the eighth change of period for a faithful The rookie which began its eighth season on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. before being moved to Mondays at 10 p.m. to make way for ABC’s latest lighthearted character-based procedural. RJ Decker. (As revealed at Comic-Con, the Season 9 premiere will be in two parts.)
The rookie And The Recruit: North will now air as a Wednesday block, likely after ABC’s comedy block of Abbott Elementary School And Change gear. ABC has yet to announce its midseason schedule, but Wednesday 8-9 p.m. is traditionally its comedy block, with Abbott Elementary School as presenter of a full season of 22 episodes while Scrubs And Change gear both have limited series orders, one for fall, one for mid-season.
ABC had to partner The rookie And The Recruit: North together, a practice regularly employed by networks in the context of expanding franchises which allows the launch of new offshoots and allows for fluid crossovers. It’s in the cards here. We already knew that Fillion would make an appearance in The Recruit: North pilot, and Hawley told Deadline in May that he envisioned 2-3 crossover episodes per season. He revealed during the NYCC panel that Winter and O’Neil would also appear in the spinoff, which is set in the Pacific Northwest.
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Bellisario will return to The rookie in the role of Stephanie Monroe, a single mother in her thirties who seeks to reinvent her life by becoming a police officer. She will be on the opposite side of her character on Amazon On callwho was a training officer with his own recruit. Bellisario, who directed an episode of The rookie last season, will be partnered with Nolan, and Fillion called her his favorite rookie to train with so far.
Psych Alumnus Hill will play Lieutenant Hughes, a distracted thirty-year veteran who tries to adjust to his new position as guard commander while his personal life is increasingly upended. Hughes will likely replace him while guard commander Tim Bradford is removed.
Kunzwill guest stars as Quinn, a small-town girl determined to become a paramedic in Los Angeles.
As Deadline reported, Allo will be recurring The Recruit: North as Brooke, a warm, intelligent, attractive and effortlessly charming first-year ER resident who quickly establishes a connection with a rookie police officer (Ellis).
The teaser, which you can watch below, shows Tim and Lucy in captivity, Tim being tortured and the dangerous rescue operation.
“We risk everything we love to save them,” Nolan says.
The teaser also introduces Ellis’ Alex Holland, who encounters some of the same problems as Nolan in embarking on a new mid-life career as a cop, but in a greener, more rural environment – and the same conviction.
“That’s what I’ve been missing all these years, doing something that matters,” Alex says at the end.
Both The rookiewhich takes place and shoots in Los Angeles, a The Recruit: Northwhich is set in the Pacific Northwest and films in Vancouver, airs on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu. They are produced by Lionsgate Television in partnership with 20th Television.
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