''Rookie' Fans, Nathan Fillion Just Revealed He'll Be in 'Rookie: Feds' With Niecy Nash

If you’re a fan of ABC’s hit drama series The Rookie, have you ever thought about there being another middle-aged person becoming the oldest police rookie in another precinct? Or better yet, what it would look in an entirely different city with an entirely different unit? Well, lucky for you, the alphabet network is about to answer this question with a brand-new TV show — The Rookie: Feds.

Now, if fans remember, The Rookie introduced several key members of the upcoming spin-off in the latter half of season 4. In the April 2022 episode titled “Simone,” viewers saw John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) drive around a high school counselor-turned-FBI trainee Simone Clark (Niecy Nash) to help him find the culprit behind a timed bomb going off in the middle of L.A.

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Throughout the episode, she’s seen going through the motions of what training is like in Quantico, from driving tests to clashing with her instructor about not letting her age (she says she’s 48, by the way) stop her from achieving her dream of being an FBI agent.

Sounds like a lot, right? Well, that’s only the beginning, and we’ll get to see more of Simone’s journey in the FBI. Here’s what we know so far about The Rookie spin-off The Rookie: Feds:

When is The Rookie: Feds premiering on ABC?

Make sure you have your calendars cleared for Tuesday, September 27 at 10 p.m. ET, because that’s when the pilot episode of The Rookie: Feds will air on ABC. Unlike most ABC franchise shows, the series will not be premiering the same day as its predecessor and instead will air future episodes on Tuesday nights.

ICYMI, The Rookie season 5 will debut on Sunday, September 25 at 10 p.m. ET. So now, you’ll get a double dose of action during the week — just not back-to-back episodes.

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What is The Rookie: Feds about?

According to an ABC press release published this past June, The Rookie: Feds will follow protagonist Simone Clark as she becomes the oldest trainee to ever attend the FBI Academy. As far as the nitty gritty of the show and how the characters will interact with one another, we will just have to wait more info about that.

There is one thing ABC did gift us though and that was a teaser trailer back in May. Take a look at it below:

Who will be in The Rookie: Feds cast?

As of right now, there aren’t too many details about who will round out the full cast of The Rookie: Feds. But ABC did announce a few actors joining the show, starting with:

• Niecy Nash will play Simone Clark, a high school guidance counselor who becomes the oldest person to join the FBI Academy.
• Frankie Faison will play Christopher “Cutty” Clark, Simone’s father and a man who was falsely imprisoned during the 1980s. Now, he’s trying to figure his life out once more while being proud of his daughter’s accomplishments.
• Felix Solis as Special Agent Matthew Garza, a 20-year veteran in the FBI and a believer in his employer’s ways. On the edge of being promoted to a leadership position, Deadline described Felix’s character as “tough, smart and filled with a little too much self-importance.”
• Britt Robertson will play Laura Stensen, the “black sheep” of an academic family and the youngest person to work in the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit. Deadline described her character as “ready to throw her socially awkward, workaholic, book-smart self-back into the job” post-discovering her boyfriend cheated with her best friend.
• Kevin Zegers will play Brendon Acres, an actor on the TV series Vampire Cop, a whiz in computer science and a recent graduate of Quantico. Deadline clarified that while Brendon has both martial arts and gun skills,”[he ‘s] got a lot to prove in his first posting.”
• James Lesure will play Carter Hope, a successful lawyer who became a model FBI agent. Conservative and traditional in his approach to justice, Carter will have to take on his biggest challenge yet: training Simone Clark, whose methods are the opposite to his beliefs.

Although Niecy, Frankie and Felix’s characters debuted in two season 4 episodes of The Rookie, one actress from that episode will not be joining them: Kat Foster, who played Special Agent Casey Fox during the backdoor pilot. While ABC didn’t announce the reasoning behind it, Deadline did explain in May that it was part of a series of casting changes before the show began filming.

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Speaking of filming, we do know one actor who will make a surprise appearance during the first few episodes of The Rookie: Feds and that is The Rookie’s Nathan Fillion. Both series’ Instagram accounts revealed the big news via a behind-the-scenes clip of him. So how will Nathan’s Rookie character fit into the spin-off? We’ll have to stay tuned!

How can I watch and stream The Rookie: Feds?

When The Rookie: Feds premieres on ABC, you can watch it live Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET. If you don’t have access to a TV screen, you can always view it on ABC’s website or the ABC app on mobile devices. But make sure you have your TV login info at the ready because you may be prompted to enter it in before you can begin streaming.

If you want to go a different route and have YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV or fuboTV as streaming services, then you’re all ready to view The Rookie: Feds.

If you couldn’t tune in to see the episode as it airs, no worries — there are other options. Hulu works with ABC to have episodes go live the next day, which you can access with a subscription starting at $6.99 a month. And while you’re waiting for the drama to air, make sure you catch up on The Rookie as well before season 5 premieres. You can learn more about it here: