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The beloved, critically acclaimed police drama The Rookie is now in its eighth season. With seven seasons notched on the belt, the latest season is poised to continue the story of Nathan Fillion's John Nolan and his colleagues. We are three episodes into the eighth season of the procedural drama, and the Season 8 premiere has set an enviable record. Filmed in Prague, the episode drew a seven-day audience of about 9.35M, up 6% from the Season 7 premiere's 8.86M viewers in seven days. The premiere is also up 6% over the prior season average. To put it plainly, Season 8, episode 1 of The Rookie is the best season opener for the cop drama in six years, since Season 2.
While there are suggestions that the premiere might have wasted the opportunity it had, audiences seem to be intrigued by it. Having recorded the biggest streaming premiere the series has ever seen, it will be interesting to see how the show's viewership numbers perform going forward as the procedural moves to Monday nights. The shift in time slot comes as ABC seeks to make room for its new drama RJ Decker. Starting from January 26, The Rookie will now follow American Idol. Tuesday nights are usually high-performing ones for ABC, and the decision to move The Rookie from its familiar time slot will be judged only on the passage of time. Other Tuesday shows on ABC, High Potential and Will Trent, also posted notable gains with their first episodes of 2026.
'The Rookie' Franchise Is Poised To Continue Delivering on Epic Drama
With how things ended in Season 7 and the lighter tone of the first two episodes in Season 8, it was expected that The Rookie would spice things up going forward. In its latest episode, the procedural saw the return of the annoying and irksome character that is Seth Ridley (Patrick Keleher). More importantly, the series introduced an entirely new villain into a show that knows how to produce them. Step forward Ezra Kaine (David Krumholtz). Exactly how much damage and mayhem he can bring to the lives of the Mid-Wilshire gang remains to be seen, but we are here for it.
While the flagship series continues to take giant strides, the franchise as a whole is set for an expansion. Having seen Niecy Nash's The Rookie: Feds spin-off fail already, there are hopes that the next attempt does better. A pilot for an upcoming spin-off, The Rookie: North, has been greenlit with original creator Alexi Hawley, leading the effort. Insecure star, Jay Ellis, has been cast in the lead role of Alex Holland, and Hawley hopes to bring a fresh look to the franchise. Marvel star and This Is Us alum Chris Sullivan has since joined the cast as preparationsramp up.
New episodes of The Rookie air on Monday nights on ABC, with episodes available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
Release Date October 16, 2018
Showrunner Alexi Hawley
Directors Tori Garrett, Chi-Yoon Chung, Michael Goi, Sylvain White, Lisa Demaine, Lanre Olabisi, Bill Johnson, David McWhirter, Liz Friedlander, Daniel Willis, Toa Fraser, Anne Renton, Jon Huertas, Cherie Nowlan, TK Shom, Rob Seidenglanz, Valerie Weiss, Barbara Brown, Charissa Sanjarernsuithikul, SJ Main Muñoz, Nelson McCormick, Marcus Stokes, Adam Davidson, Anna Mastro
Writers Corey Miller, Bill Rinier, Zoe Cheng, Mary Trahan, Ally Seibert, Liz Alper, Nick Hurwitz, Racheal Seymour, Madeleine Coghlan, David Radcliff
English (US) ·