Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Rookie season 8, episode 18, “The Bandit.”

Some things are changing in MidWilshire when it returns for The Rookie season 9.

To say that The Rookie season 8 was a roller coaster for the ABC procedural would be an understatement. Kicking the year off with an ambitious Prague-set operation set the standard for what came after, which was a mix of street-level cases and major operations in tandem with the FBI. Aside from the weekly cases, long-time villains such as Liam Glasser and Oscar Hutchinson continued to wreak havoc, although Monica Stevens finally met her end in The Rookie season 8 penultimate episode.

However, The Rookie‘s backbone has always been its main characters. Aside from fulfilling their respective jobs as members of the unit, the 2025-2026 TV cycle featured some major personal developments for the series. Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen moved in together and then got engaged at the end of the year, Wade Grey transferred to a different focus, and Wesley Evers left the DA’s office, among others. Moving forward to The Rookie season 9, expect more milestones for the people of MidWilshire, but on a bigger scale, there will be a change in personnel for the squad when it returns.

In his post-mortem interview with Deadline, creator Alexi Hawley confirmed that they will be introducing a new rookie, as he confirmed that Miles Penn will indeed graduate from the program, as what Nyla Harper told him in “The Bandit.” The showrunner did caution that whoever they introduce at the start of The Rookie season 9 may not be someone who sticks around the whole year. Regardless of the specifics, he’s adamant about introducing one or two when the show returns. Read his full quote below:

You are not wrong, it’s true. What that looks like is another thing we got to figure out. As we’ve talked about before, a rookie is always an opportunity to serve two stories. One is, who that person is, and then how that person affects everyone around them, especially their training officer. So I think that’ll be part of the thing.

Obviously we’ve had rookies that have flamed out quickly before. Greg Grunberg fired his gun at roll call, on morning one. We had a great episode where Katy O’Brian, before she blew up, we were lucky enough to get her, and I thought her episode was really great with Tim. So, there’s always a possibility what we start with might not be the whole season.

There’s still some stuff to figure out but you’re not wrong. Going into Season 9, we would need a new rookie, at least one. I want to figure that out.

The good thing is that Hawley also confirmed that the main cast will remain intact in The Rookie season 9. So concerns over Grey’s potential exit should be effectively squashed by this. Still, the show needs to find a way to keep him in the loop following his departure as the Watch Commander. Given Lucy and Tim’s abduction in The Rookie season 8 finale, he’s sure to be involved in the search and rescue for the pair, but it’s anybody’s guess where he lands after that.

As Miles graduates from the program, he joins Celina as the youngest members of the force outside the next batch of rookies. Hopefully, however, The Rookie season 9 does a better job at fleshing out their characters moving forward. The pair seemed like they were lost in the shuffle a few times throughout its latest run, and that’s a shame, considering the storytelling opportunities that they bring to the table. Miles needs to be more incorporated into the team to give the character the focus that he deserves.

Beyond the borders of California, The Rookie franchise is expanding with its second spinoff led by Jay Ellis and set in the Pacific Northwest. The crossover with The Rookie: North has already been shot, which means that if ABC greenlights the project, establishing the connection between the shows will be vital. Perhaps The Rookie could even be a launching pad for some of the characters in that show before they leave Los Angeles and join a new team up north.

The Rookie

6/10

Release Date

October 16, 2018

Showrunner

Alexi Hawley

Directors

Tori Garrett, Chi-Yoon Chung, Michael Goi, Sylvain White, Lisa Demaine, Lanre Olabisi, Bill Johnson, David McWhirter, Liz Friedlander, Daniel Willis, Toa Fraser, Anne Renton, Jon Huertas, Cherie Nowlan, TK Shom, Rob Seidenglanz, Valerie Weiss, Barbara Brown, Charissa Sanjarernsuithikul, SJ Main Muñoz, Nelson McCormick, Marcus Stokes, Adam Davidson, Anna Mastro