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ABC is expanding its Rookie-verse.

The network has picked up a spinoff of The Rookie, titled The Rookie: North, for the 2026-27 season. Jay Ellis (Running Point, All Her Fault) will star in the series, which like the original show will follow a man who becomes the oldest rookie on a police force.

The Rookie: North was one of two pilots ABC ordered this development cycle and is the first new scripted series order for the network for 2026-27. The other pilot, a comedy titled Do You Want Kids?, was passed over. ABC will be part of Disney’s upfront presentation Tuesday.

Set in Washington state, The Rookie: North will center on Alex Holland (Ellis), who “believed his midlife wasn’t worthy of a crisis,” per the show’s logline. “But after a violent home invasion ignites a dormant purpose, Alex battles a lifetime of failed commitments by joining the Pierce County Police Department as a rookie. Policing from the urban coast to the rural forest where backup isn’t just five minutes away, Alex must prove to his skeptical training officer, his fellow rookies and himself, that he’s finally found something worthy of the fight.”

Chris Sullivan, Karen Fukuhara, Froy Gutierrez, Janet Montgomery, Mya Lowe and Malik Watson will also star. The Rookie creator Alexi Hawley is writing the spinoff and will executive produce with the original series’ star, Nathan Fillion, and Mark Gordon, Bill Norcross and Michelle Chapman. Ellis is a producer. Lionsgate Television and 20th TV are the studios.

North will be the second spinoff of The Rookie to air on ABC. The Rookie: Feds, starring Niecy Nash-Betts, lasted one season in 2022-23.

Stay up to date with all the broadcast series orders, renewals and cancellations with THR’s 2026 network scorecard.

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