
ABC renews The Rookie for Season 8, with execs praising its streaming strength and fresh fan base despite a lukewarm finale.
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.