ABC pairs The Rookie and The Rookie: North for Jan. 6 Wednesday launch

ABC has locked Jan. 6 for a double helping of The Rookie.

Season 9 of the police drama will start that night at 9 p.m. It will be followed at 10 p.m. by the debut of The Rookie: North. Both hours air on ABC and stream the next day on Hulu. The dates and first footage were revealed in a sizzle reel shown at New York Comic-Con, as reported by Deadline.

Nathan Fillion leads the original series as John Nolan, the oldest rookie turned veteran officer. The spinoff, meaning a new series spun out of an existing one, is headlined by Jay Ellis as Alex Holland.

Season 9 picks up from a tense leave-behind. Tim and Lucy were kidnapped in the Season 8 finale cliffhanger, where a story stops at the moment of crisis. The new run opens with an organised mission to bring them home. Eric Winter plays Tim and Melissa O'Neil plays Lucy.

Alexi Hawley is running both shows. He is creator, executive producer and showrunner, meaning the lead writer-producer in day-to-day charge, on The Rookie and The Rookie: North.

There are familiar faces joining in. Troian Bellisario, Dulé Hill and Molly Kunz will guest-star in Season 9. Andy Allo will guest-star in the first season of The Rookie: North.

The two shows live in different places. The Rookie is set and films in Los Angeles, while The Rookie: North is set in the Pacific Northwest and shoots in Vancouver.

The Wednesday pairing is a change of slot. Season 8 started in the Tuesday 10 p.m. hour before moving to Mondays at 10 p.m.

The spinoff was picked up to series for the 2026-27 season, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. The plan was to launch it in midseason, meaning halfway through the broadcast season, alongside The Rookie to allow crossovers.

For fans, this means one night to keep free. Two crews. Two cities. One linked Wednesday.