It’s time to celebrate! The Rookie is nominated for an Emmy – and it’s the only ABC scripted drama to receive the honor in 2023. Read on to see what category the show is nominated in and who they are up against this year.
The Rookie is ABC’s police procedural that follows the story of John Nolan, a recently divorced man in his 40s who pursues a career as a police officer at the Los Angeles Police Department, after inadvertently helping the police stop a bank robbery. Created by Alexi Hawley, the series is based on the true story of William Norcross, a real officer with the LAPD who moved to Los Angeles in 2015 and also joined the department in his mid-40s. The show premiered in October 2018 and was renewed for a sixth season on ABC, our sister publication Variety reported.
Nominations for the 2023 Emmy Awards were announced on July 12, 2023. The cop drama is nominated for Outstanding Stunt Coordination For A Drama Series, Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie for stunt coordinator David Scott Rowden Sr. Also nominated in the same category is FBI: Most Wanted, S.W.A.T., The Mandalorian and The Boys.
According to Rowden Sr.’s IMBd page, he has also done stunt work for film and TV shows like The Kominsky Method, Vice, Crazy, Stupid, Love., Men in Black and more.
This marks the second Emmy nomination for The Rookie. Back in 2020, it also received a nomination for Outstanding Stunt Coordination, but The Rookie lost to Disney+’s The Mandalorian’s stunt coordinator Ryan Watson. While David Scott Rowden Sr. hasn’t posted about his 2023 Emmy nomination for The Rookie, the stunt coordinator reshared The Rookie Season 6 renewal news to his personal Facebook account.
Noticeably absent from the Emmy nominations are many of the major scripted network primetime shows, like One Chicago, Law & Order, The Good Doctor, NCIS, the newcomer Fire Country and more.
The Rookie’s official Instagram account celebrated the nomination on July 12, 2023. “Congratulations to #TheRookie on the #Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Stunt Coordination For A Drama Series, Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie! #EmmyNoms #Emmys,” the show wrote in the post.
A few of The Rookie’s leading actors responded to the post with excitement, including Melissa O’Neil (who stars opposite Nathan Fillion as Officer Lucy Chen), who wrote, “LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOO.” Eric Winter, who we know as Sergeant Tim Bradford, said, “Hell Yeah!!” with fire emojis. Rookie Lisseth Chavez (Celina Juarez) also celebrated the news by commenting, “LETS GOOOOOO,” along with heart eyes and clapping emojis.
Season 5 of The Rookie concluded with an emotional Season 5 finale that was packed with cliffhangers. In “Under Siege,” which aired on May 2, 2023, police officer Aaron Thorsen was gunned down by masked assailants – and the last time we saw him – he was in a coma. We likely won’t get an update on Thorsen’s condition until the show returns (most likely in the winter of 2024) due to the ongoing writer’s and actor’s strikes. The show also unveiled a new villain who was behind the finale’s devastating events that we are dying to learn more about.
On June 22, 2023, The Rookie‘s Instagram account posted a video of Fillion explaining what he writes in Nolan’s notepad while filming as the character. “So some of you are wondering when you see me writing in my notepad as John Nolan in the rookie room, where we are right now, what am I writing? Well, that’s an excellent question. Let’s take a look right now,” Fillion said as he showed his notepad, which had Nolan’s full name and the words “Police Notepad” on the cover.
When Fillion got to the last page of the notepad, he showed a note that read, “Have Eric winter fired for making that joke about my hair.” He then panned the camera back to his face as he said, “Maybe don’t tell Eric that you saw that.” The Rookie’s Instagram account confirmed the note was a joke in its caption. “@nathanfillion sees a notepad, we see piping hot tea. All jokes aside, we love you @ebwinter!” the caption read.
The Rookie is available to stream on Hulu.
