Because it prepares to return to ABC, new knowledge proves why The Rookie is certainly one of ABC’s most necessary reveals. When it comes again on January 6, The Rookie season 8 will break new floor for the procedural by delivering a premiere with worldwide aptitude. A part of the season’s first episode will unfold in Prague, the Czech Republic’s capital metropolis, with filming going down on location over the summer time.
It is a comparatively uncommon prevalence for a broadcast community sequence. However even because it steadily approaches the potential for ten seasons, the Alexi Hawley-created police dramedy has demonstrated spectacular viewership progress whereas different procedurals lag. The Rookie‘s scores are much more spectacular when spotlighting one portion of the viewers particularly.
Selection broke down the most-watched scripted applications on broadcast tv throughout 2025. ABC’s Excessive Potential and CBS’s Tracker got here out on high, just about in a tie for first place, however The Rookie season 7 may need essentially the most shocking discovering. The sequence was the #1 present of the 12 months for Gen Z, particularly teenagers starting from 12 to 17.
When wanting on the complete viewers, with the inclusion of streaming and conventional viewing, The Rookie season 7 averaged greater than 10 million viewers per episode. Different scripted comedies and dramas on broadcast TV additionally proved common with the identical age group, together with Excessive Potential and Abbott Elementary, in addition to Ghosts and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage on CBS.
At first look, a police procedural might not appear to be the proper match for a teen viewers, however this specific take has a number of totally different components working in its favor. The Rookie‘s principal forged has been largely constant lately, that includes Nathan Fillion, Shawn Ashmore, Lisseth Chavez, Mekia Cox, Jenna Dewan, Alyssa Diaz, Richard T. Jones, Melissa O’Neil, Eric Winter, and Deric Augustine becoming a member of as Miles Penn in season 7.
One other side that helps The Rookie‘s streaming viewership on Hulu, the place it positive factors a rise of roughly 5 million viewers, is that it lends itself to clips that catch hearth on social media. A component of that’s due to the fan-favorite couple generally known as Chenford, with viewers monitoring their varied ups and downs and driving waves of debate.
One other approach to think about it, nonetheless, is that The Rookie is a hangout present. It is like Mates or New Woman, albeit with procedural trappings. Followers watch it as a result of they just like the characters and care about their relationships. In that approach, it is an instance of a well-established TV method and bodes properly for the probabilities of the upcoming spinoff The Rookie: North.
The Rookie season 8 premieres Tuesday, January 6, 2026, on ABC at 10 PM ET.
- Launch Date
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October 16, 2018
- Showrunner
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Alexi Hawley
- Administrators
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Tori Garrett, Chi-Yoon Chung, Michael Goi, Sylvain White, Lisa Demaine, Lanre Olabisi, Invoice 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 Primary Muñoz, Nelson McCormick, Marcus Stokes, Adam Davidson, Anna Mastro
- Writers
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Corey Miller, Invoice Rinier, Zoe Cheng, Mary Trahan, Ally Seibert, Liz Alper, Nick Hurwitz, Racheal Seymour, Madeleine Coghlan, David Radcliff