From Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and Bailey Nune’s (Jenna Dewan) romance to the shocking crimes in every episode, season 6 of The Rookie proved ABC’s police procedural has serious staying power. Playing a cop is about as far as Fillion can get from his cheesy Modern Family weatherman Rainer Shine and Firefly captain Mal Reynolds, and that’s exactly why it’s so much fun watching him on this type of show.
While we’re thrilled that ABC renewed The Rookie for a seventh season, it’s a little surprising to hear that we won’t get to see new episodes until 2025. Why is there such a long wait?!
Why The Rookie season 7 will premiere in 2025
According to TVLine, The Rookie season 7 will air in 2025 and 18 episodes will air in a row. While it might seem surprising that the TV series isn’t coming back in the fall of 2024, which is what fans would expect, it seems this decision was made so 18 episodes can air back to back. Since The Rookie season 6 has only 10 episodes, this is great to hear.
Disney Television Group President, Craig Erwich, told TVLine that Will Trent will also follow the same schedule. Erwich said, “that kind of momentum of original episodes week-in and week-out is just a very powerful engine for both of these shows.”
The Rookie season 6 had great ratings and ABC seems to expect that to continue next season. Fans are also catching up on episodes outside of the current season as well. According to The Daily Beast, the show made the list of the “most watched” Netflix series worldwide.
When does The Rookie season 6 end?
The Rookie season 6 premiered on February 20th, 2024 and the finale will air on May 21st, 2024. Since the episode is called “Escape Plan,” we can guess that the cast of The Rookie season 6 is going to be in a precarious situation.
While Nathan Fillion has a small part in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, John Nolan on The Rookie is a role that he can really sink his teeth into. He’s a character with a tough past who changes his life, which makes him more compassionate as a member of the LAPD.
Even if The Rookie season 6 ends on a cliffhanger (which seems more likely than not), we can rest assured knowing that we’ll get 18 The Rookie episodes starring The Great Nathan Fillion in 2025.