The Rookie made its debut on ABC in 2018, with former Castle/Firefly star Nathan Fillion in the lead role.
Fillion starred as John Nolan, a rookie cop in his 40s who takes on a role as a police officer to make a difference. After proving this wasn’t a midlife crisis, he grew into a reliable police officer.
However, along the way, he suffered through a lot. His mentor betrayed him and turned out to be a dirty cop.
Additionally, police brutality in real life played out on the show as well, making even a good cop like John Nolan look at himself more closely.
Here is everything we know so far about The Rookie Season 4.
This article provides everything that is known about The Rookie Season 4 and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s dig down into what is known so far.
Is there going to be a Season 4 of The Rookie?
The great ratings for The Rookie assured it a fourth season when ABC announced what was returning for the 2021-22 season.
ABC announced The Rookie received a renewal, alongside other series like Black-ish for an eighth and final season, The Conners, The Goldbergs, A Million Little Things, and rookie series Home Economics.
The Rookie averages almost 10 million viewers in the Live +35 viewing totals, one of the most-watched DVR’d series on television today.
The viewing numbers in the 35 days following its live airing more than quadruples (+342%) its Live+SD adults 18-49 rating. This is a big jump, moving up from 6.14 million viewers on its initial Live+Same Day average, showing initial ratings are not as important as they used to be.
Release date latest: When does The Rookie Season 4 come out?
The Rookie Season 3 hit in January 2021 and the season ended on May 16, 2021. That season was 14 episodes.
The late start was because of the pandemic shutting down productions, and it didn’t start shooting until Fall 2020.
There is no word on if will be another shorter season, or if it will go back to the 20-episode season.
The Rookie should hit in Fall 2021.
We will update the site when we learn more.
The Rookie Season 4 cast updates
Nathan Fillion returns as the lead of The Rookie, John Nolan.
Other leading cast members returning include Alyssa Diaz (Angela Lopez), Richard T. Jones (Wade Grey), Titus Makin Jr. (Jackson West), Melissa O’Neil (Lucy Chen), Eric Winter (Tim Bradford), Mekia Cox (Nyla Harper), and Shawn Ashmore (Wesley Evers).
There is also a chance to see more supporting characters returning including Dylan Conrique (Tamara Collins), Zayne Emory (Henry Nolan), Madeleine Coghlan (Abigail), and Camille Guaty (Sandra “La Fiera” De La Cruz).
The Rookie Season 4 spoilers
The Rookie’s Season 3 finale switched things up big time for John Nolan, and a massive cliffhanger left fans wondering what would happen in Season 4.
Thanks to the renewal, this story will continue.
The Rookie showrunner Alexi Hawley talked to TVLine about the upcoming fourth season of his series.
The finale ended with a major cliffhanger concerning Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) and Wesley Evers’ (Shawn Ashmore) wedding.
Wedding plans didn’t go as they’d hoped after Angela went missing shortly after La Fiera (Camille Guaty) escaped. The disappearance is what Season 4 will explore.
“We’ve been setting up the La Fiera story all season, so it just felt like we should go for it,” Hawley said.
He also touched on adding the cliffhanger before knowing the show would return.
“Terence [Winter] and I basically made a decision that we needed to shoot the one that aired, which was the one with the happy ending, just in case, Hawley continued. “Nobody told us to, but you can imagine if we’d ended with [Rick and Kate] bleeding out on the floor of the loft – ‘See you later, America!’ That would have been bad.”
In The Rookie Season 4, we should also see more of Lucy, who earned her place as one of the undercover agents approved to be a part of the LAPD operation of the drug cartel.
John Nolan is also moving on up from his days as a rookie. He no longer has to drive with another officer and is out on his own.
P2s can drive in solo cars, which we’ve never really done. He could also ride with Lucy, or with Jackson,” Hawkey said. “Also, what’s inherent in not being a rookie or a student or a trainee is that he’ll have bit more strength, because he’s going to be the one making the calls.
“He’s going to be driving his stuff a bit more without having to, like, check in with a TO or you know pass a test every episode.”
This could feature John Nolan in a lot of solo scenes, different from what viewers have seen before.
ABC has yet to announce when The Rookie Season 4 will premiere.