Nathan Fillion is heading north. The Rookie lead will make the jump to its spin-off, The Rookie: North. Two more familiar faces are expected to follow. Series creator and showrunner Alexi Hawley revealed the development at New York Comic Con on Sunday. Hawley teased the crossover with a sizzle reel for fans in attendance. The news drew a loud reaction from the crowd. Both shows are set to return on January 6, 2027.
Nathan Fillion leads the confirmed The Rookie: North crossovers
The Rookie: North‘s preview’s closing frames showed Nathan Fillion on a FaceTime call with spin-off star Jay Ellis. Hawley pointed to that moment as the first sign of what’s coming. “One of the things that we’re doing this season, which you might have noticed — in the last few frames of that sizzle is a little bit of a crossover,” he said.
Fillion could appear in the spin-off’s pilot, Hawley said, and other characters may travel north during the season. He gestured toward Melissa O’Neil and Eric Winter, who have both appeared on the original series since its first season. An ABC representative confirmed all three crossovers to Entertainment Weekly.
O’Neil, who joined Fillion and Ellis on the panel, spoke warmly about her time on the spin-off, and she got emotional doing so. “The truth is that there was admittedly a very strong spirit of reverence. They were like, ‘We want to, like, take care of the batons…’ Everyone was so graceful and caring and loving towards the work on the show and so it felt very — I was very touched by that,” she said.
Furthermore, Richard T. Jones, Mekia Cox, Alyssa Diaz, Shawn Ashmore, Lisseth Chavez, and Deric Augustine also appeared on stage. Ellis was the only spin-off cast member present. However, The Rookie: North has already announced several other major roles, including Chris Sullivan, Janet Montgomery, Froy Gutierrez, Mya Lowe, and Malik Watson.