ABC’s hit police procedural The Rookie is officially returning with Season 8 despite an underwhelming season 7 finale. When a long-running show delivers a finale that doesn’t quite stick the landing, fans start asking the obvious question: Is this the beginning of the end? That was certainly the mood following the season 7 closer of The Rookie.
But ABC isn’t concerned. In fact, they’re doubling down. Despite mixed reactions, The Rookie isn’t just coming back for the next season, it’s coming back strong. As the ABC executive weighs in, he’s not only talking ratings, he’s talking strategy, streaming, and long-term staying power.
ABC executive gives full support as The Rookie secures season 8 renewal
ABC announced that The Rookie will return for Season 8, joining Grey’s Anatomy and 9-1-1 on its 2025-26 schedule. While older series often struggle to stay relevant or cost-effective, ABC is bucking that trend, and it’s all thanks to strong multiplatform viewership, loyal audiences, and what the network calls “older shows” storytelling.
As per Deadline, Craig Erwich, President of Disney Television Group, praised the appeal of the older shows in a recent statement,
Those may be quote-unquote ‘older shows’ in terms of how many seasons, but what we’re seeing is new generations of fans coming in and discovering these shows. We have at Disney a very unique ecosystem where we have multiple platforms, but we’re able to create singular events. We’re better at it than anybody.
That ecosystem, fueled by streaming platforms like Hulu, and given ABC the confidence to keep its veteran dramas in play, even when their finales don’t exactly wow. Erwich pointed to the Nielsen multi-platform ratings, which measure viewership across live TV and streaming, now seen as the industry standard for measuring a show’s true impact.
According to those figures, The Rookie ranks No. 3 among all broadcast series in the 18–49 demographic, behind only High Potential. It also recently set a Hulu record for most-viewed episode of the series.
So what went wrong with the Season 7 finale? Fans and critics alike have called it flat, citing unresolved story arcs and a lack of real stakes.
What went wrong with the Season 7 The Rookie finale?
Season 7 of the popular police procedural wrapped with The Good, the Bad, and the Oscar, an episode criticized for feeling more like a standard installment than a climactic finale. While the return of longtime antagonist Oscar Hutchinson and the reappearance of Monica could have set the stage for high-stakes drama, both storylines lacked buildup and resolution.
Viewers were particularly frustrated by the episode’s focus on procedural side plots, such as a catfishing case and a fleeting threat from a group called the Eastern Front, rather than the main arcs teased throughout the season. The episode just didn’t feel like a finale. There were no real stakes. Episode 8 had more intensity and connection between storylines.
Yet none of that seems to faze ABC. According to Erwich, shows like The Rookie continue to “recruit new viewers,” and that’s reason enough to keep the story going.
With Nathan Fillion continuing as both lead actor and executive producer, the stage is set for The Rookie to make a creative comeback in Season 8. Whether it will resolve the dangling arcs of Oscar and Monica or introduce new long-term threats remains to be seen.
While the Season 7 finale may have stumbled, in the end, ABC has no intention of letting The Rookie fade quietly into syndication. In a landscape where legacy shows often wither, ABC is only betting big on a fresh future.
The Rookie is currently available to stream on Hulu (USA).
