{"id":637074,"date":"2026-05-11T18:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T18:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/637074\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T18:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T18:58:09","slug":"north-picked-up-to-series-by-abc-eyes-midseason-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/637074\/","title":{"rendered":"North’ Picked Up To Series By ABC, Eyes Midseason Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Rookie<\/a> is a franchise again. Spinoff pilot The Rookie: North, starring Jay Ellis<\/a>, has been picked up to series by ABC<\/a> just hours before the network is set to unveil its 2026-27 schedule Tuesday. I hear the order is for 10 episodes, with the series, from The Rookie creator Alexi Hawley<\/a> and lead studio Lionsgate Television, expected to premiere in midseason.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat will set up crossover opportunities with the mothership series, starring Nathan Fillion, which has a full-season order and will once again premiere in January, I hear. As Deadline revealed last week<\/a>, that will kick off right off the bat as\u00a0The Rookie: North\u00a0pilot features an appearance by Fillion as his\u00a0Rookie\u00a0character John Nolan. Fillion also executive produces both series.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the deal between ABC and indie studio Lionsgate TV did not close until Sunday night, a series order for The Rookie: North had looked likely for weeks<\/a>. (Pickup and renewal negotiations between networks and outside studios going down to the wire are a storied upfront tradition.)<\/p>\n

\n\tWith The Rookie: North ordered, ABC officially is expanding its scripted portfolio next season as it already had renewed all of its current scripted series including R.J. Decker, whose Season 2 pickup came on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Deadline\u00a0has reported<\/a>, it came down to the freshman series starring Scott Speedman and\u00a0The Rookie: North<\/a>, with a pickup for both possible<\/a>, likely with small concessions on episode orders for some ABC series. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Rookie: North introduces Alex Holland (Ellis) who believed his midlife wasn\u2019t worthy of a crisis. But after a violent home invasion ignites a dormant purpose, Alex battles a lifetime of failed commitments by joining the Pierce County Police Department as a rookie. Policing from the urban coast to the rural forest where backup isn\u2019t just five minutes away, Alex must prove to his skeptical training officer, his fellow rookies and himself that he\u2019s finally found something worthy of the fight.<\/p>\n

\n\tEllis stars alongside Chris Sullivan, Karen Fukuhara, Froy Gutierrez, Janet Montgomery, Mya Lowe and Malik Watson.<\/p>\n

\n\tLike the mothership series, The Rookie: North is produced by Lionsgate Television in partnership with 20th Television. Hawley serves as executive producer and writer, with Fillion, Mark Gordon, Bill Norcross and Michelle Chapman also executive producing. Ellis is a producer.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tL-R: Jay Ellis, Mya Lowe and Froy Gutierrez in \u2018The Rookie: North\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Darko Sikman<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is the second spinoff in The Rookie franchise following The Rookie: Feds, starring Niecy Nash, which aired for one season in 2022-23.<\/p>\n

\n\tCrossovers continue to do well as marketing stunts that drive up viewership. On ABC, 9-1-1\u00a0and\u00a09-1-1: Nashville\u00a0did one this season;\u00a0Grey\u2019s Anatomy\u00a0and spinoff\u00a0Station 19\u00a0as well as\u00a0The Rookie\u00a0and\u00a0The Rookie: Feds also staged multiple crossovers during their joint runs.<\/p>\n

\n\tHawley teased to Deadline that he is looking at \u201cmaybe a couple episodes, or two or three episodes a season\u201d for stories that cross over between The Rookie and The Rookie: North.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s harder obviously, with the Vancouver or the Pacific Northwest of it all and L.A.,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cFeds\u00a0was designed on purpose with a lot of crossovers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Rookie\u00a0is set and films in Los Angeles.\u00a0The Rookie: North\u00a0is set in the Pacific Northwest and films in Vancouver. Like\u00a0The Rookie,\u00a0The Rookie: Feds\u00a0was based in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tL-R: Jay Ellis and Chris Sullivan in \u2018The Rookie: North\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Darko Sikman<\/p>\n

\n\tLike he did with The Rookie and The Rookie: Feds, Hawley will serve as showrunner on both The Rookie, headed into its ninth season<\/a>, and The Rookie: North.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI have done it before; there was a period where I was doing Rookie and Feds and The Recruit at the same time,\u201d he told Deadline last month<\/a>, referencing his Netflix series The Recruit, which was also shot in Vancouver. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot but I have a really good team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThroughout the pilot process, Hawley had been hopeful about The Rookie: North getting a series order.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe pilot came out great,\u201d he\u00a0told Deadline last month<\/a>. \u201cThe network seems super happy with it. You never know until you know but we have a really amazing cast, led by Jay Ellis who\u2019s a star; it was a joy to make that with him and the rest of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEllis also gave the pilot\u00a0his stamp of approval<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI have seen the pilot twice, I think it\u2019s great,\u201d he recently told Deadline. \u201cI think you\u2019re gonna fall in love with all these characters.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rookie is a franchise again. Spinoff pilot The Rookie: North, starring Jay Ellis, has been picked up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1855,269451,88,148731,211598,196748],"class_list":["post-637074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-abc","tag-alexi-hawley","tag-entertainment","tag-jay-ellis","tag-the-rookie","tag-the-rookie-north"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}