Ever since Castle came to its untimely end a couple of years ago, Nathan Fillion has been popping up all over TV on shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Modern Family, Con Man, Rick and Morty, A Series of Unfortunate Events and more. (Not to mention his big screen work.) Now, the Firefly vet is finally returning to broadcast TV full-time for the new drama The Rookie, which ABC has officially ordered to series. Check out the first look below!
This time, instead of mostly using mental dexterity to help out the police force, Nathan Fillion is putting his feet to the pavement as Jake Nolan, the newest rookie with the LAPD. Of course, he also happens to be the oldest rookie with the LAPD, which does not earn him abundant compassion and understanding from his fellow officers and supervisors. While the teaser above doesn't have much levity, take note that humor will be part of the fun here, and we'll hopefully get to see some solid B.S. banter among the officers.
Having grown up in a small town, Jake went through a life-altering incident that inspired him to go out and achieve his dream of joining the LAPD. But dreams are obviously different from reality, and Jake knows there is a long road ahead of him if he's meant to prove his mettle. Others may think he's just having a mid-life crisis and could potentially put others in harm's way, but Jake is confident that he's got the drive, the life experiences and the attitude to justify his new direction in life. And while I haven't seen any episodes yet, I'm pretty sure we can all expect Jake to come out a winner in all this, because Fillion.
Plus, I think we can all agree that Nathan Fillion's eyebrow should get its own credit for the work it's doing in this shot.
Beyond ABC, which ordered up The Rookie pilot in a competitive bidding situation later year, we can all thank Alexi Hawley for bringing Nathan Fillion back to primetime. Hawley, a former co-showrunner and EP on Castle, created this fictionalized iteration that is actually based on true events. He will be executive producing The Rookie as well, alongside Fillion and Mark Gordon, whose production company teamed with ABC Studios.
Also set to star and appear in The Rookie are Ray Donovan's Alyssa Diaz, Santa Clarita Diet's Richard T. Jones, The Path's Titus Makin, Dark Matter's Melissa O'Neil, The Night Of's Afton Williamson and Rosewood's Eric Winter. And Jake will have Fear the Walking Dead vet Mercedes Mason as his Captain.
Are you guys as pumped as we are to get Nathan Fillion back on broadcast TV? Remember to watch Season 1 on ABC this fall, and stay tuned for more specific premiere info. In the meantime, be sure to watch Fillion's former co-star Stana Katic in her excellent thriller Absentia, and check out our summer premiere schedule to see all the new and returning shows that have been confirmed for the upcoming months.
