If the creator of “The Rookie” has his way, audiences and ABC are going to have a lot more seasons of Nathan Fillion as the oldest cop on the force.
“My end goal for ‘The Rookie’ is ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’” series creator Alexi Hawley told TheWrap. ” I would love that show to keep going for the foreseeable future.”
The executive producer certainly feels like the series has enough story left in it to keep going for several more seasons. When TheWrap spoke to Hawley about Season 2 of his Netflix drama “The Recruit,” he shared that production on “The Rookie” Season 7 had just wrapped. “We have done stuff this season that we’ve never done before, which, after 100 and something episodes, is great,” Hawley said. “I feel like that show will go for for a long time. People seem to like it and show up.”
It’s a feat for any show that lasts more than three seasons to avoid feeling stale, but that’s exactly what “The Rookie” has done time and time again. Hawley credited that spirit of re-invention to its format, which focuses on the day-to-day lives of patrol officers.
“Any time they get out of their cars, anything can happen. I take that very much to heart,” Hawley said. “The trick on ‘The Rookie’ is that any time we change the pairings in a police car — add in a new partner and suddenly it’s a different episode.”
The creator also doesn’t feel bound by any particular tone on his ABC drama. Episodes can range from being funnier to feeling more like a piece of horror. “It gives us a lot of leeway,” Hawley said. This is all part of Hawley’s plan to constantly keep his audience a little “nervous.”
“Audiences are super sophisticated … they know where things are going, even if they don’t fully know. And so we’re trying to lean into what can we do that constantly keeps the audience leaning forward?” Hawley said. That can include everything from an episode with an entirely different visual language to making sure a quiet scene is followed by a loud one. In this fast-paced and quip-filled world, it also means never settling on the easy joke if it doesn’t feel earned.
“Stakes always trump comedy,” Hawley said. “Most things that do humor will go for the joke no matter what. And I’m like, the second the audience feels like there’s no stakes, they’re not invested in the same way. We’ve had serious regulars get killed on ‘Rookie,’ and it’s traumatic. It’s meant to be traumatic. Having those stakes makes it richer. If you’re worried, if you know that there are consequences, having fun is a little bit of tension relief as opposed to just light fare.”
New episodes of “The Rookie” Season 7 premiere on ABC Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
