The Rookie showrunner explains how the upcoming series spinoff The Rookie: North differs from the flagship franchise. Debuting in 2018, The Rookie is a cop drama about a man who decides to take a career pivot, pursuing his dream of joining the LAPD. The series stars Nathan Fillion, Alyssa Diaz, Richard T. Jones, and Eric Winter.
The Rookie has had seven completed seasons thus far and has been renewed for an eighth season. The Rookie season 8 premieres next week on January 6. A spinoff, called The Rookie: North, is also in development and is set to debut sometime in 2026 as well.
In an interview with ScreenRant's Tatiana Hullender for The Rookie season 8 premiere, showrunner Alexi Hawley speaks on the differences between The Rookie: North and the main show. Hawley defines the setting as the principal difference, noting that "setting it up in the Pacific Northwest will just visually make it feel very different."
Hawley finds that most cop shows take place in the major hubs like Boston, LA, and Chicago. Instead, he wanted The Rookie: North to feel like the "America that most people live in." Hawley went on to describe the specific intricacies of this setting, in a quote fully realized below:
ScreenRant: Speaking of the long game, the Rookie universe continues to expand with The Rookie: North. Can you tell me about how that show will stake its own identity? But at the same time, will there be character crossovers to tie it back to The Rookie?
Alexi Hawley: Yeah, it will definitely stake its own identity. I do think setting it up in the Pacific Northwest will just visually make it feel very different. Just as I was crafting the pilot for that show, it did occur to me that most patrol shows you've ever seen are just big-city shows. They're in Boston, they're in LA, they're in Chicago. I've never really seen a cop show take place in the parts of America that most people live in, which is a little bit urban, but also the exurbs in the suburbs, and even the rural areas.
Pierce County, up in Washington state, really jumped out as a place that had all of it. It's got Tacoma, it's got a giant joint military base nearby, it's got fancy suburbs and strip malls near freeways, and then it's got a national park and mountains. Visually, that show felt like it would be very different than doing a show in a big city. That's exciting to me, in that it just is such a different vibe.
But at the same time, at its heart, it's still a patrol show. Anytime they get out of their cars, anything can happen. I think that's what makes The Rookie not a procedural, we don't do a case of the week. We don't drop a body in Act 1 and solve it in Act 6. It's all about, "Who knows what's going to happen this week?", which is the fun of it.
Hawley was sure to emphasize that "at its heart", The Rookie: North will still feature the same familiar elements and is "still a patrol show." He also went on to explain how The Rookie, as a series, differs in format from procedurals and other common genre formats. He hopes to carry this forward into North.
This is not the franchise's first attempt at a spinoff series. That took the form of The Rookie: Feds, which aired for a single season from 2022 to 2023. This series centered around an older FBI rookie, Special Agent Simone Clark.
Unlike The Rookie: North, however, Feds kept the same city setting as the flagship series, taking on an LA field office. This gave it the more typical cop show feel that Hawley describes, as it was in one of those major hubs listed.
As such, The Rookie: North will really be a strong chance to set itself apart from existing franchise entries. It will be interesting to see to what extent the spinoff is able to really lean into the setting in the way the showrunner seems to be promising. If successful, the Pacific Northwest backdrop could lead to some really interesting scenes that are unique from the main series.
