Fans Disappointed By This The Rookie Season 8 News

For a successful seven seasons, The Rookie has kept viewers on the edge of their seats. Tim was struggling to accept the consequences of his own actions and learned to trust people after getting burned in Season 6. There was also a dramatic arc for Nolan and Bailey, the latter played by Jenna Dewan, where Bailey struggled with her abusive past relationship.

With the recent announcement that The Rookie has been renewed by ABC, fans have been very excited. Season 7 was well-received by viewers and ratings were high on streaming services. This led to ABC confirming that John Nolan, Lucy Chen, and other cast members would be returning for Season 8. However, fans might be bummed when they find out how long they will have to wait until it premieres.

Season 8 Of The Rookie Won’t Be Premiering Until January Of Next Year

The Season 7 finale of The Rookie has left fans with a lot of questions and the anticipation is on for Season 8. Viewers were eager to see what major changes were underway at LAPD Mid-Wilshire. Lucy Chen finally became a sergeant, but she got stuck working the night shift. However, Lucy’s on-and-off boyfriend, Tim Bradford, doesn’t seem to mind. He decides to make her an offer when she wakes up after she falls asleep.

John Nolan and Nyla Harper discovered a fugitive tied to LAPD Mid-Wilshire’s well-known enemy, the imprisoned Monica Stevens. However, the unexpected plot twist came when FBI Agent Matthew Garza revealed Monica was let out of jail after she gave the government secretive intel. It’s not known what that intel is, though, and fans can’t help but speculate.

With all the twists and turns, it really does feel like The Rookie is just getting started. Plus, fans have reason to be excited after the show was renewed for another season. However, fans will be disappointed once they find out that Season 8 of The Rookie won’t be premiering in the fall of 2025. In fact, it most likely won’t begin airing until the midseason of 2026. Following the reports about this unfortunate news, Reddit users began airing their grievances online.

“Darn! Now we’re gonna have to wait through the summer through the fall and halfway through the winter before we get rookie S8E1. Looks like I’ll be doing a rewatch of the whole series through the whole time,” a fan commented. “I figured this would be the case but it still sucks,” someone else replied. “I can’t wait a year 😔 Super excited for season 8 though!” another user wrote.

However, TV Line is reporting that there is a reason for the delay. The outlet is reporting that Season 8 of The Rookie and Season 4 of Will Trent will premiere on ABC sometime in January 2026. By this time, the seasons will be “uninterrupted” for 18 episodes once they begin airing. Otherwise, there would be long breaks, as is often the case when shows begin airing in the fall. This also shouldn’t come as a surprise, since Season 7 of The Rookie didn’t begin airing until January 2025.

Still, the show’s seventh season no doubt opened up a world of possibilities as to what could happen next season. Showrunner Alexi Hawley spoke with TV Line and revealed that devoted viewers will feel like the new season will pick up right where things left off.

“I think [The Rookie Season 8 will] be fairly continuous — not literally next day, but within a fairly short amount of time,” Alexi said. “There’s some time-sensitive stuff that we left hanging, that feels like we should [resolve soon] for the audience. I don’t think we should jump forward too far in time.”

The Cast Of The Rookie Started Teasing Season 8 When The Series Got Renewed

While we now know the timeframe, there is still no specific date set for the next season premiere. It might be worth noting, however, that Season 7 was shot last autumn, so the filming schedule for Season 8 might be similar. This would be a reasonable assumption, since the season is set to premiere at the same time as the previous season.

Much to the delight of fans, it has been confirmed that Nathan Fillion will return. Nathan confirmed his return with a post on social media. The actor uploaded a video where he was joined by cast members, Alyssa Diaz, Lisseth Chavez, Melissa O’Neil, Eric Winter, Mekia Cox, Richard T. Jones, Jenna Dewan, and Shawn Ashmore. Fans are taking this as confirmation that they will all be returning too.

“I’ve been around long enough to know how truly challenging and rare it is to have a long-running show,” he captioned the video. “Thank you all for sticking around for these 7 seasons- it’s because of you that we are announcing season 8!! Congratulations to @alexihawley and the wonderful team that put this show together. I am so very proud to work alongside all of you. Let’s do this! #therookie.”

Richard T. Jones has made it clear that he wants to remain on the show as well. “I hope we go on for a very, very long time,” he said in a recent interview. “You know, I can have … a cane, walking around chasing people, like, ‘Stop! Stop!’ You know, I don’t care.”

The Season 7 finale gave fans such excitement about the possibilities of the plot in Season 8. Viewers theorize that Monica Stevens, who is portrayed by Bridget Reagan, will keep being trouble for everyone. Her presence might make things even more complicated for everyone on the team.

“That’s the thing about [showrunner] Alexi [Hawley], man, he always leaves it on a little cliffhanger,” Richard revealed when speaking to TV Line. “You’re gonna feel a little annoyed because, like I said, some Monica [Stevens] mayhem is coming.” He added, “It’s a very big episode once again, so we’ve got the FBI. Felix [Solis] is in it again [as Agent Garza]… I think people are going to be very happy, but it’s one of those cliffhangers where you’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, when is it coming back?'”

Eric Winter Was Teasing Fans Before Season 7 Even Premiered

Tim Bradford, played by Eric Winter, spent much of The Rookie Season 6 learning a lot of lessons. The main lesson Tim learned was that his actions had consequences, and he needed to take responsibility for his actions.

Season 6 saw Tim meeting up with a former military teammate, Ray, played by David Dastmalchian. This encounter served as a catalyst for Tim to start facing some of his personal demons. When Ray arrived in Los Angeles, he threatened to ruin Tim’s career. Tim then decided to come up with a plan to catch Ray doing something illegal.

Unfortunately, this caused Tim to lose his job on Metro. His relationship with Lucy Chen, played by Melissa O’Neil, sadly also came to an end. Tim decided to deal with these events by going to therapy. However, this would also throw him another curveball. His therapist Blair London, played by Danielle Campbell, turned out to be sharing information from her sessions with LAPD members with criminals. Needless to say, Tim’s life went downhill following these incidents. The one bright spot was that Tim didn’t lose his badge, and he was back at Metro as a training officer when Season 7 began. Eric opened up to Parade about what Tim went through and what his future held.

“I think in his heart he feels like he did what he had to do, and it was for the greater good,” Eric told the outlet. “But you also need to follow the rules and that’s something that Tim’s a stickler with. So, I think he truly, in a way, regrets maybe the way he handled it. But I think, in the moment, he did what he thought was the best move. He struggles with it still.”

Tim is also battling with his love for Lucy, which is still very strong. He made it difficult for her to trust him, but Tim wanted to get back together. He starts to feel hopeful when she is temporarily promoted to be a training officer for one of the two new rookies. Tim then makes a bet with her on which one of their rookies will mess up first. This is his way of keeping things light and playful with Lucy.

“Tim clearly cares about her,” Eric said. “He broke up with her because he cares about her. It was a true statement of, ‘It’s not you, it’s me, I’m not good enough for you and I don’t think you deserve the drama I could cause in your life with my past and all that.’ So, he, again, did what he thought was the best move, but probably regrets aspects of the way it went down and wishes he could have had the confidence or the smarts to be able to at least talk to her about it first, where he’s at, how he feels. But that’s just not Tim’s way. He had to learn the hard way, I guess, with his decision.'”

Tim did return to therapy, even though his previous therapist betrayed his trust. Even though Blair London was deceitful, she did help him see that therapy was the right path for him. Tim learned a lot about himself and saw an improvement. This made him want to stick with it and continue getting better. “We actually get to see Tim in a support group trying to work through these difficulties,” Eric revealed. “Granted, the situation he’s in at the time we see that scene is very funny, or it makes it kind of funny. I won’t spoil it. But, yeah, he took it seriously after those sessions with a therapist and knows that he needs help, and he can work on himself, and he can be better.”