Season 5 of The Rookie ended on a couple of cliffhangers back in the spring, but now there’s a big question about the upcoming sixth season that has nothing to do with whether Thorsen will recover and what the bad guys have planned for Los Angeles. Star Nathan Fillion has reportedly been cast to play Green Lantern Guy Gardner in the highly-anticipated Superman: Legacy. While that’s great news for fans of the actor who have been wanting to see him as a Green Lantern in live-action after voicing one in various animated movies, fans of The Rookie may have reason to worry about John Nolan's screentime in Season 6.
Nathan Fillion hasn’t commented one way or the other about Superman: Legacy at the time of writing, although he did express his excitement about the sixth season when The Rookie was renewed. So, for now, let’s look at what we do know so far about both The Rookie and the upcoming Man of Steel movie to see what we can deduce about Season 6.
The Rookie Season 6 Is Scheduled For 2024
Even though ABC announced a renewal for The Rookie Season 6 early in the spring season, the network revealed just weeks later that the show was being pushed back to a midseason rather than fall premiere. ABC has instead filled its fall lineup with unscripted options due to the WGA writers strike, which is still ongoing. The earliest we may be able to hope for to see payoff on the Season 5 finale cliffhangers is early 2024, which could be complicated by the news about Nathan Fillion.
Superman: Legacy Begins Production In Early 2024
Although confirmed Superman: Legacy details are relatively few and far between at this point, director James Gunn revealed in a Wired interview that the film would start shooting in January. If Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner has a significant role in the film, then it’s possible he won’t be available for full-time series regular duties on The Rookie. It is worth noting that Guy Gardner is not one of the heroes slated to be a lead in Max’s Lanterns TV series, so signing on to play a Green Lantern for Superman: Legacy doesn’t mean Fillion signing on to star in a show.
The Rookie Has A Strong Ensemble
If Superman: Legacy does indeed have a big enough role for Nathan Fillion that he has to step away from his usual workload on The Rookie, the ABC show has a strong ensemble surrounding John Nolan. Other characters could simply step into the spotlight more often while Nolan was MIA for some reason. I know Chenford fans wouldn’t complain about seeing more of Tim and Lucy, for example!
Plus, the cliffhanger at the end of Season 5 didn’t set up a huge new storyline for Nolan specifically, so I for one am not too worried about the future of the show, whether or not we’ll get less of Fillion during Season 6. At the time of writing, there’s no confirmation that playing a superhero would require the star to step away from John Nolan, so we can unfortunately only wait and see.
In fact, if there’s anything regarding the Rookie universe to worry about, I would say that it’s the fact that The Rookie: Feds hasn’t yet been renewed even months after the Season 1 finale, although star Niecy Nash was feeling good about it back in June. For now, fans can always spend summer hiatus revisiting both shows, with The Rookie and The Rookie: Feds available streaming with a Hulu subscription.
