Unlike The Rookie, which has been renewed for the eighth season, The Rookie: Feds show got the axe right after the first season. Many viewers didn’t tune in for Niecy Nash’s rookie as much as they did for Nathan Fillion’s rookie. In the short-lived single season, the spinoff show introduced several lovable characters at the FBI Los Angeles Field Division – Special Investigative Unit.
Even though the spinoff show was no more, the characters of the show still dropped in several episodes of The Rookie after the cancellation. Agent Matt Garza is one such character who made a surprising appearance during the finale season of The Rookie Season 7. And I am convinced that it was the start of his bigger role in Season 8.
Agent Matt Garza will appear in a bigger role in The Rookie Season 8
Felix Solis’s Matt Garza dropped in during the final episode of The Rookie Season 7, after recurring character Oscar Hutchinson escaped prison. It came after quite a few cameo appearances of Garza throughout the last few seasons. Garza first appeared in the two-part backdoor pilot to The Rookie: Feds during the fourth season of the show.
Garza later appeared in 2 episodes of Season 5 and one episode of Season 6, before appearing in two episodes this season. It wasn’t just Agent Garza, who made cameo appearances in The Rookie after the cancellation of its spinoff show. Britt Robertson’s Laura Stensen and Kevin Zegers’ Brendon Acres also appeared in Fillion’s show.
However, it was Garza and the team’s appearance in the finale of the seventh season that caught my attention. It could be a hint that Garza could be a bigger part of the plot, especially after that cliffhanger finale. He tells the main characters of The Rookie that they have unfinished business at hand, which suggests that the FBI is going to help out Nolan and the team more.
I was sad to see The Rookie: Feds go, even though I have to admit that it didn’t make as much impact as its OG show. By bringing Garza and some of his team to work with John Nolan and the LAPD Mid-Wilshire, the show helps us to get over the cancellation.
It could also be possible that the makers felt sorry for these actors after ABC decided not to move ahead with the spinoff and brought them to the OG show. No matter what the reason is, I am convinced that the cops on the show will continue to keep these Feds in the loop for some of their bigger cases, like the one we saw in the Season 7 finale.
The Rookie Season 8 will return to ABC only after a long wait
Nathan Fillion’s The Rookie has been renewed for an eighth season, giving us more adventures from John Nolan and the cops at LAPD Mid-Wilshire. However, ABC’s new update is upsetting for fans who were hoping to see the series back soon. According to the update, the network won’t air the new season until mid-season 2026.
They shared a list of the shows airing this fall on Instagram, and The Rookie was notably absent from it. The network intends to bring back Abbott Elementary, 9-1-1, and its spinoff 9-1-1: Nashville this fall. The new season is expected to follow a schedule similar to that of the current season, which aired from January 2025 to May 2025.
According to TVLine, both this series and Will Trent, with its fourth season, will be back next January for an uninterrupted run. Fillion’s series is expected to have 18 episodes in this eighth season. Fans expressed their disappointment with this decision on social media.
