The renewal comes amid strong ratings for Season 6. The Alexi Hawley-created crime drama starring Nathan Fillion kicked off its sixth season with its most-watched episode in nearly six years, with 11.92 million total viewers across platforms after 35 days of viewing. That’s up 14% from its Season 5 average and marks the show’s strongest MP35 number since Oct. 23, 2018, according to the network and Nielsen.
As expected, ABC has renewed The Rookie for its sixth season. The series will reach its 100th episode next season. The Nathan Fillion drama is in the Top 5 of ABC’s most-viewed scripted series and a great utility player. It ranks No. 1 in new its Tuesday 8 p.m. time period this season among adults 18-49 (tie).
ABC’s Nathan Fillion-starring procedural picked up an additional 5 million viewers across the week.
Disney Media Entertainment and Distribution is bringing three off-network shows to national broadcast syndication this fall: sitcom American Housewife will air seven days a week starting Sept. 12, while one-hour dramas 9-1-1 and The Rookie will debut in weekend syndication on Sept. 17.
The network revealed the renewal on Wednesday. Season 4 of The Rookie opened with a 0.3 rating in the 18-49 demo and 2.8 million viewers and has remained fairly steady in demo throughout the season. According to ABC, The Rookie season 4 averages 10 million total viewers after 35 days of viewing across ABC’s linear and digital platforms, growing six times over its initial Live+Same Day rating among adults 18-49 with a lift of 500% after 35 days of multiplatform viewing.
ABC is planning a spinoff of The Rookie with Niecy Nash set to star. The new show will be introduced in a two-episode backdoor pilot during The Rookie’s current fourth season. While the mothership show focuses on the LAPD, the potential new show would focus on the FBI.
Exclusives
A quintet of scripted ABC series can breathe long-awaited sighs of relief. The Alphabet Net on Friday handed renewals to The Rookie, A Million Little Things and comedy trio The Conners, The Goldbergs and Home Economics.
The Rookie is modifying its production schedule after a number of positive COVID-19 tests. The ABC cop drama is going to reduce the shooting schedule for the rest of December as a result of the new cases, which were discovered through its strict health and safety protocols.
A total of five production crew members on the ABC drama have tested positive for coronavirus, Variety has confirmed with sources. Despite the outbreak, the show’s producer Entertainment One has made the decision to continue production, stopping briefly for a “deep cleaning” of the set.
Cop dramas have been under the microscope following the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests against police brutality. ABC’s The Rookie, which stars Nathan Fillion as John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the LAPD, is taking steps to address these issues as it heads into season three. ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke said that creator Alexi Hawley has brought in a number of experts to discuss the issues around policing in America in 2020.
ABC has committed to full seasons of the freshmen series Stumptown and Mixed-ish, while also confirming that The Rookie will be back in the spring after its sophomore return this fall.
Production company Entertainment One said Tuesday the investigation led it to conclude no unlawful or inappropriate behavior was committed by the co-workers accused by Afton Williamson.
In an Instagram post Sunday, Afton Williamson said that throughout the filming of the ABC show’s pilot, “I experienced racial discrimination/racially charged inappropriate comments from the hair department.”
Freshman dramas A Million Little Things and The Rookie, along with freshman comedy The Kids Are Alright and sophomore comedy Splitting Up Together have all received orders for more scripts for this season.
