The Rookie will introduce a new character in season 9 to remind fans of what the show's title means!
Some fans of The Rookie like to joke that the title doesn’t fit the show anymore. Originally, the idea was for John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) to be a man in his forties who becomes a rookie cop alongside a few other recruits. Eight years later, Nolan is a full training officer and could even graduate to detective if he wanted.
The series has attempted to fill those gaps with new characters as rookie cops. That includes Nolan’s charge, Celina (Lisseth Chavez), and Miles Penn (Deric Augustine). While Celina has graduated to full officer, Miles was held back despite his experience as a cop in Texas.
Speaking to Deadline, showrunner Alexi Hawley confirmed that Miles will graduate and be a full officer in season 9. He also confirmed that the series will introduce at least one new character as a rookie cop.
“What that looks like is another thing we got to figure out. As we’ve talked about before, a rookie is always an opportunity to serve two stories. One is, who that person is, and then how that person affects everyone around them, especially their training officer. So I think that’ll be part of the thing.”
The show has had some new characters coming in, although they don’t always last long. Jackson West (Titus Makin Jr.) was a strong cop for the first three seasons, only to be killed off in the season 4 premiere. There was also Penn’s fellow cadet, Seth Ridley (Patrick Keleher), who first got fired for his constant lying and then had to quit after losing a leg in the line of duty.
Hawley acknowledged the show’s tendency to have folks pop in for just an episode or two, making it tricky to tell who can be a regular character.
“Obviously, we’ve had rookies that have flamed out quickly before. Greg Grunberg fired his gun at roll call on morning one. We had a great episode where Katy O’Brian, before she blew up; we were lucky enough to get her, and I thought her episode was really great with Tim. So, there’s always a possibility what we start with might not be the whole season.”
That last line pertains to Seth, who seemed set to become a regular in season 7, only to be off the force by the end of the year. Thus, we may see some rookies coming and going for various reasons and the fun of Nolan and Chen getting some of the same treatment they gave their superiors when they started out.
There have been no cast addition announcements yet, but it sounds like The Rookie season 9 will have some new blood to continue living up to the title.
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