ABC’s cop procedural The Rookie is almost back for its fifth season and, this year, the Nathan Fillion-led series will have some company. The franchise is expanding with the new spinoff, The Rookie: Feds, starring Niecy Nash. And ahead of the new series debut and the season premiere of his own show, Fillion opened up about the one concern he once had about the new show after it got the greenlight.
To promote both Rookie shows, Nathan Fillion and Niecy Nash interviewed each other in a friendly interrogation-like setting for EW. Nash asked the Suicide Squad star how he initially felt about her upcoming show after it was announced. While Fillion was excited, he was also a bit concerned that it would mean his show would lose one of its stars:
First, they say spin-off, and you go, ‘Oh my God, that's such a great idea. We must be doing well if we're going to get a spin-off show.’ That's the up. Then there's a down. You go, ‘Wait a minute. Does that mean they're going to take one of our characters? They're going to break up this little troop of ours? Are they going to break someone off, and they're going to spin that person off into another show? Who do we lose?’ Then I started looking around at people like, who do I want to lose? No, I didn't do that.
It makes sense that Nathan Fillion would be concerned about parting ways with a cast member or two since that tends to happens when TV shows spawn offshoots. For example, a situation that's happened in recent years would be The CW's Riverdale losing Ashleigh Murray's Josie McCoy to Katy Keene. But in the case of The Rookie, that wasn't meant to be the case.
When it was announced that Feds would involve a whole new storyline and new characters, the Firefly alum's concern went away and was overtaken by sheer excitement, which grew even more when it was revealed that Nash would lead the spinoff:
But then I found out that we're not going to lose anybody. We're going to introduce a new character. And then we're going to spin them off into their own show. And I thought, ‘That's a great idea.’ And then, I found out it was going to be you. I've already met you, and I already know what you're like, so you know how I feel about that.
A two-part episode that aired during Season 4 served as a backdoor pilot for the then-potential spinoff. At the time, there were many arguments to be made as to why the Rookie spinoff should happen and, luckily, ABC soon greenlit the series. I'm interested in seeing how things play out in the new show and just how Niecy Nash’s Simone will perform in the lead.
While the parent show won’t be losing any stars to Feds, there will be small crossovers here and there. And even though it’s unknown as to whether this could turn into the next big law enforcement-centered, TV property, the presence of both of these shows on ABC's fall 2022 schedule is proof that fans are loving this growing franchise.
As for Season 5 of The Rookie, Nathan Fillion also recently discussed how the title will still be relevant following Nolan’s career change, which now sees him serving as a T.O. Fillion mentioned that while Nolan is no longer a rookie officer, he is now a rookie training officer to a new character (played by a Chicago P.D. vet), so it works. With that, he can likely throw some advice Simone’s way since we’ll likely see the two of them work together again soon.
Since The Rookie: Feds is an FBI-centric spinoff, fans shouldn’t have to worry about anyone from OG series moving to the sister show -- unless one of the characters makes a major career change. So, for now, everyone is staying right where they are while the series expands.
Don’t miss the premiere of The Rookie: Feds on Tuesday, September 27 at 10 p.m. EST on ABC! And you can catch the season premiere of The Rookie, tonight, Sunday 25 at 10 p.m. EST. Check out CinemaBlend’s 2022 TV schedule to see learn about the other new and returning programming that's headed your way.
