The Rookie star Eric Winter shares his hopes for more spinoffs of the popular ABC drama. First airing in 2018, the Alexi Hawley series stars Nathan Fillion as John Nolan, a man who embarks on a new career as a police officer after a life-altering injury. The Rookie season 7 is now confirmed to be on the way, but the franchise attempted further expansion in 2022 with The Rookie: Feds spinoff, which was cancelled after only one season.
In a recent interview with RadioTimes, Winter, who plays Officer Tim Bradford, shares his hopes for more spinoffs of The Rookie after Feds. In addition to explaining how the franchise could further expand, the actor also touches on why Feds perhaps didn’t strike the same chord with audiences as the original show. Check out Winter’s comment below:
“I think there’s a possibility for more, for sure. Feds kind of had its own flow that was a little different than the original Rookie and I think that if there’s another spin off, it’ll probably lean in more to that cadence and flow that we have on our show.
“It’d be fun to see what they have in store, if they actually spin-off a character from the original or if they just bring somebody brand new. I don’t know, but I think another spin-off could be a lot of fun, and I hope it does happen to build the universe.”
What Could A New Rookie Spinoff Look Like?
John Nolan (Nathan Fillion), Nyla Harper (Nia Long), and Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neill) walking in The Rookie
On paper, The Rookie: Feds is a strong idea for a spinoff. The series is built around a similar premise, but with a focus instead on the FBI and federal law enforcement. Characters like Nolan and Bradley even make an appearance. Audiences ultimately rejected the series, however, as shown by its Rotten Tomatoes audience score of only 18%. This low approval rating is evidently emblematic of viewership, since ABC opted not to continue with The Rookie: Feds season 2.
Instead of attempting the same premise in a new setting, the perfect spinoff of The Rookie could adopt the approach Winter suggests. A character from The Rookie cast could be the perfect anchor point for a new show since audiences will already have a relationship with them. It would be interesting, for example, to follow a character from the mothership show as they embark on a new career path, perhaps becoming a “rookie” in the world of SWAT, explosive ordinance disposal, hostage negotiation, or some other more specific area of law enforcement.
As for which character would be a good fit, Nolan is obviously off the table, but Bradford could make for a strong candidate given the events of season 6. Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) or Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) could also anchor their own spinoff, but this would unfortunately mean that they would have to leave the mothership show. It remains to be seen whether another spinoff of The Rookie will ever happen, but Winter evidently thinks that there’s more room for expansion.
