The Rookie Spinoff Is Moving Forward, And I Had My Doubts Before Another ABC Spinoff Became A Big Hit

With the weeks counting down until The Rookie returns to ABC for Season 8 in the 2026 TV schedule, the spinoff is getting a big push forward from the network. It's been slow going since the project was first announced in late 2024, and a pilot order was said to be coming soon... back in July. After a more recent explanation for how long the process has taken, the long-awaited pilot has finally been ordered with Insecure and Top Gun: Maverick vet Jay Ellis in the lead role. That said, I've had my doubts about the premise becoming a hit until recent ratings news.

What's Coming With The Rookie: North

Jay Ellis plays Alex Holland in The Rookie: North, which Deadline reports has received the order for a pilot that will be penned and directed by The Rookie showrunner Alexi Hawley. The reason for the delay is due to the actor's extremely a busy schedule. He's a series regular on Hulu's upcoming Not Suitable For Work as well as recurring on Running Point, available streaming now with a Netflix subscription. The actor celebrated the big news on Instagram with this message:

With Jay Ellis' resume including projects like Insecure, Top Gun: Maverick, All Her Fault, and even voice work in The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy in just the past ten years, it sounds like The Rookie: North is all set with its lead.

Why I Had Doubts

Jay Ellis seems like a great choice to lead a network TV show; my doubts have been about the premise. In The Rookie: North, Alex (Ellis) doesn't even feel worthy of a mid-life crisis until he's inspired in the wake of a violent home invasion. Despite a history of falling short on his commitments, he decides to join the Pierce County Police Department as the oldest rookie. He'll need to impress his training office and the other rookies, with the Washington state setting meaning that the jurisdiction is rural rather than urban like The Rookie.

And if that sounds like a great premise for a hit show, that may be because it's very, very similar to the premise of an actual hit show: The Rookie. While that's to be somewhat expected of a spinoff and its parent show, The Rookie: North''s premise originally sounded to me like a copy-and-paste of the original with just a few changes here and there.

Perhaps that was inevitable after the change in premise for The Rookie: Feds ended in cancellation, but it just didn't seem like there would be room in ABC's lineup for two very similar shows. Now, I have to change my tune due to another hit franchise on the network: 9-1-1.

9-1-1: Nashville Became A Hit

ABC expanded the 9-1-1 franchise in the fall of the 2025 TV schedule, with the premiere of 9-1-1: Nashville (available streaming now with a Hulu subscription). Like 9-1-1: Lone Star before it, the premise introduced in the series premiere was basically like a copy-and-paste of 9-1-1, just set in Nashville. There's nothing wrong with that if there's an audience for it, and recent viewership numbers that led to some interesting conclusions about CBS also prove that ABC has a good thing going.

In the average viewership over seven weeks, 9-1-1 ranked at #13 on the network TV Top 20, while 9-1-1: Nashville ranked at #17. It's the only franchise other than NBC's One Chicago to have every entry in the Top 20, and proof that there's an audience for two extremely similar shows just set in different areas with different characters.

So, will The Rookie: North become a hit like 9-1-1: Nashville did? Well, the project has only been ordered to pilot at the time of writing, so there's no guarantee that The Rookie's Washington-set spinoff with Jay Ellis will even get a series order, but I'm more optimistic now tha I was before the casting news. For now, you can always look forward to the return of The Rookie for Season 8 on Tuesday, January 6 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.