During “The Rookie” panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, actor Nathan Fillion was serenaded by Zander Hawley on stage in front of the Ballroom 20 audience.
As the series is set to begin Season 8, Fillion and showrunner Alexi Hawley talked about the success of the show and how the procedural drama has found an audience with multiple generations, including families and young teenagers.
“I have friends who are good actors in their own right. They’re calling me saying, ‘Hey, man, my daughter just turned 11, and she and her friends are all crazy about “The Rookie.” Can I please have a birthday with you?’ I love that,” revealed Fillion.
“I think that ultimately television, specifically television with lots of episodes with characters that you can really invest in, has become comfort food for people,” says Hawley. “There’s 1,000 shows on the air but it does feel like people sort of grab lots of shows that they look forward to watching. They’re an escape. I take that very seriously. It doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen on our show, that there aren’t stakes, that we don’t go dark sometimes. People really look to us as an important storm.”
Fillion and Hawley spoke about the upcoming season, which is set to release in 2026. During the panel, a sizzle reel revealed that the LAPD will be making a trip to Prague in the Season 8 premiere. The footage shows the new and returning cast members, as well as teases what’s next for John Nolan.
“In the first episode, we go to Prague and [John] becomes James Bond in the episode. We have a lot of exciting stories for [the cast] this season.”
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