The Rookie: Feds, a spinoff of The Rookie, starts on ABC September 27. The spinoff was introduced in a two-part event during season four of The Rookie, when Officer John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and the L.A. division of the FBI enlist the help of Simone Clark when one of her former students is a suspect in a terror attack. Clark is the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy.
Niecy Nash-Betts plays Clark. Frankie Faison is Christopher “Cutty” Clark and Felix Solis is Special Agent Matthew Garza.
In a TCA session, Nash-Betts said she was drawn to the role “because it is a world that I've never played in on the legit side,” describing it as “real 911.”
Nash-Betts previously starred in Claws on TNT.
“I was very, very excited about tapping into this woman, her story, her journey,” she added, “and the fact that it was starting a little later in life made it even better.”
Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter are co-creators and executive producers. Mark Gordon, Niecy Nash-Betts, Nathan Fillion, Michelle Chapman, Bill Norcross and Corey Miller are executive producers.
A Variety review said, “As long as the producers keep relying on Nash-Betts’ deep well of charm and character, Feds has real potential.”
Hawley said there may be a bit of crossover between The Rookie and The Rookie: Feds.
“The shows exist within the same universe, within the same city, and the design in creating them was always to have them be able to cross over back and forth,” he said. “So that definitely exists, not just with Nathan and Niecy, but with all of the characters on both shows. Police and FBI work hand in hand a lot, and so just the ability to have the fun of the character she loved bouncing back and forth is really part of the show.”
Hawley said the new show will venture a bit further geographically, and perhaps creatively, than its progenitor.
“The FBI is a national organization, and the LAPD happens in L.A.,” he said. “So the show does travel. We do go places. The unit has a jet, and so we can tell sort of bigger stories.” ■
