After The Rookie was absent from the fall TV schedule, the seventh season of the ABC procedural will finally be premiering on January 7 as part of the 2025 TV schedule. With the series resolving some Season 6 finale cliffhangers (hopefully), The Rookie is going back to old habits by bringing in some serialized elements while being a standalone show. On top of that, there is another big change and fans have Michael Mann’s Heat to thank.
The long-awaited Season 7 premiere will be split into two parts, meaning that there will be a lot to look forward to. Filming kicked off over the summer and BTS from production shows off a big reason to get excited for the new season as much of the cast was seen working together and gearing up for what looked to be a big take down. Creator and showrunner Alexi Hawley told TVLine that the run-and-gun scenes in the first two episodes were filmed a little bit differently to get more of the action:
I directed the first one and I wanted to 're-pilot' a bit on several fronts; one of them was I kind of wanted to go bigger, more action-y in places, so that’s what you definitely feel. And Bill Roe, our producer/director, directed the second one, and he’s amazing.
Of course, The Rookie has had some big action scenes already and has kept fans on the edges of their seats on more than one occasion. But knowing that it will be turned up even higher for Season 7 makes it all more exciting, especially after the Season 6 finale saw two of the biggest criminals on the show escape prison. Moreover, it also seems like the shootouts will be getting even bigger as the show pays tribute to the 1995 Michael Mann-directed film Heat starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro:
Yeah, we really leaned in, trying to go as big as you can go. And there are some Heat homages in there. I’m really happy with how those two came out.
The film, which was a box office success as it brought in $187.4 million on a $60 million budget, followed the conflict between a LAPD detective and a career thief, with plenty of professional and personal relationships included, and quite a lot of action. It sounds like the action will be turned up a notch for Season 7, and it will be interesting to see how it goes. Those with a Hulu subscription will want to watch Heat so they really know what to look out for and see how big of a difference it makes, and there's still time before Nathan Fillion's series returns.
Since the wait for The Rookie has been longer than most shows airing during the 2024-25 season, it sounds like the show's team has really been wanting to turn the “heat” up to make the wait totally worth it. Between the escaped prisoners, the fallout from the corruption scandal, and even some personal issues coming into play, Season 7 will be one to watch.
Fans will want to prepare themselves because there is no telling what will happen in The Rookie Season 7, which will be one cast member short as Tru Valentino has exited as Aaron Thorsen. The new season premieres this Tuesday, January 7 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
