Live policing shows such as On Patrol: Live almost exclusively focus on solving crimes and making arrests. However, that's not The Rookie's vibe. Even though it's a police procedural, the ABC series has always been at its best when it prioritizes characters' interactions and relationships over the actual police work. Since the series is inspired by the life story of Los Angeles police officer Bill Norcross and not a typical genre show, that makes perfect sense.
The Rookie debuted in 2018 with Nathan Fillion in the leading role. After helping foil a bank robbery, Fillion's character John Nolan moved cross-country and became one of a few trainees who completed the police academy and joined the LAPD as rookies. So, from the very first season, The Rookie was always about Nolan and his compatriots learning the ropes of police work. However, Season 5 will turn that premise around.
The two other rookies in Nolan's class -- Lucy Chen and Jackson West -- graduated their training programs and became officers at the end of Season 3. Chen is still on the series, but West was ingloriously killed off at the beginning of Season 4. That left Nolan as the only actual "rookie" on the series, and he also graduated at the beginning of Season 4, which meant that The Rookie no longer lived up to its title.
In order to maintain its premise, The Rookie introduced Tru Valentino as Aaron Thorsen. He trained under Nyla Harper for all of Season 4 and his past offered a number of interesting plots. However, a number of fans didn't like that Nolan's character development hit a roadblock. He started a relationship with firefighter Bailey Nunes in Season 4, but his character remained in a white knight-style stasis while the rest of the cast got deeper storylines and the show got a spinoff.
Fixing that problem meant the writers sent Nolan on a new career path midway through Season 4. He decided that he wanted to become a training officer, and in that role, he would be the one training the rookies instead of being trained. He got a taste of teaching in the Season 4 finale when he was involved in a shootout, but Season 5 will take it to the next level.
During San Diego Comic-Con (per Screen Rant), Fillion confirmed that Nolan will be officially stepping into the role of TO. To accommodate his position as a teacher, The Rookie will add another new character to its cast. No one has been announced in that role yet, but Fillion did let it slip that the character would be female.
At first glance, moving Nolan from rookie to the role of TO is a bit odd. It means that the student will have become the master. More importantly, though, it will mean that Nolan will no longer be The Rookie's titular character, despite still being the show's clear lead. But in the long run, it's a good writing decision, because it would be difficult to maintain a long-term series if Nolan stayed a rookie the whole time. By making Nolan a TO, the series will keep him involved with the rookies, even if that's a departure from the show's original idea.
The Rookie Season 5 premieres Sept. 25 at 10:00 p.m. on ABC.