‘The Rookie’ Boss Talks Midseason Move — Will It Affect Season 7 Plan?
The Rookie fans are going to have to wait a bit longer than usual to find out what comes next after a finale cliffhanger, but hey, at least no one’s life is hanging in the balance this time!
The ABC drama will be back in the midseason as opposed to fall 2024. So is that going to affect the story being told or a potential time jump? Not according to executive producer Alexi Hawley.
“I don’t think so. I found out around the upfronts when they make those decisions, but I don’t think it needs to interrupt—I mean, it’s not a cliffhanger per se,” he tells TV Insider. “We don’t have to come back the second after we left, which is kind of what we had to do going into Season 6. But it’s within a week or two that we’ll come back, time-wise.”
Season 6 left off with a few threats to the officers out there. Monica (Bridget Regan) fled in the chaos while Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and Harper (Mekia Cox), with an assist from some familiar faces from The Rookie: Feds (Felix Solis‘ Garza, Britt Robertson‘s Laura, and Kevin Zegers‘ Brendon) saved Blair (Danielle Campbell). She then told them everything about working for Monica. Meanwhile, as part of the deal Monica made to get intel on the man who wanted her dead, she helped Oscar (Matthew Glave) escape from prison—and he took Bailey’s (Jenna Dewan) ex-husband, Jason (Steve Kazee), with him!
Hawley does note, “Jenna’s about to have a baby in real life, so we do have to navigate that at the beginning of the season. So I think we’ll have to slow roll slightly.” That fits with the way the season ends and Hawley’s remarks that they don’t have to pick up right where they left off.
While The Rookie won’t be back until the midseason, it does have a full-season order. “I think we’re doing 18 [episodes],” says Hawley. “I actually feel like I heard that everybody’s doing 18 this year. So my understanding is that except for maybe a State of the Union, we’ll be 18 in a row, we will be on every week, which is great. I’d love that. Obviously it’s early days and stuff might happen, but I get why to a certain extent why we’re waiting until [midseason]. A lot of it does have to do with the election. Tuesday nights of an election year are heavy preemptions, and everybody wants to protect the shows, which I appreciate. So yeah, we’ll be ready and it’s going to be great.”
The Rookie, Season 7, midseason, ABC
