‘The Rookie’ Team Teases What’s Ahead for Nolan & Bailey in Season 9
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What To Know
- Nathan Fillion and Jenna Dewan, along with showrunner Alexi Hawley, teased what’s ahead on The Rookie when TV Insider caught up with them at San Diego Comic-Con.
- Season 9 premieres in 2027 on ABC.
“We deserve a break,” Nathan Fillion said of his and Jenna Dewan‘s characters, Nolan and Bailey, ahead of The Rookie Season 9. It’s true, and showrunner Alexi Hawley agreed. Just take a look at Season 8: They struggled with Bailey’s job that took her across the country to D.C. (and whether she’d even take it), then being long distance, and even once she was back, when he joined her in the field, they ran into trouble.
The ABC drama may not be back until 2027, part of the network’s midseason lineup along with the new spinoff The Rookie: North, but the cast and showrunner were present at San Diego Comic-Con this month to tease what’s ahead, and TV Insider caught up with them to get the scoop.
Since Fillion and Dewan had yet to work on the new season — filming started only days before — they left it to Hawley to share any details about what’s next for their characters.
Erin Maxwell / TV Insider
“You guys have been through a lot the last couple of seasons,” the showrunner acknowledged. “I think for Bailey, she’s got to navigate — the words that Nolan said to her during the [eighth] season about being pathologically, the need for movement, are going to resonate. So, how do you slow down when you’re an overachiever? I think Nolan is navigating a new rookie this season at some point. So, how’s that going to go? There’s still a lot to do.”
Dewan then shared what she enjoys about Nolan and Bailey’s relationship, crediting Hawley and the writers — and making a request of the showrunner.
“It’s external drama that we deal with as a couple. There’s not a lot of orchestration of drama between us. And I think I really love that because yes, any other relationship, there’s going to be ups and downs and choices and decisions, but it’s how we are a team together and the world that we live in is very dramatic and there’s a lot of high stakes in it. I like watching that,” Dewan explained. “I like the feeling of we’re a team, how do we navigate that? But then we get the excitement of all the craziness that happens. [I want] more of that.”
Hawley told her, “More of that? I can do that.”
What are you hoping to see with Nolan and Bailey in Season 9? Let us know in the comments section below.
The Rookie, Season 9, 2027, ABC
—Additional reporting by Erin Maxwell
Conversation17 Comments
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P
Not a fan of Bailey. She's too abrasive and I think Nolan needs someone less harsh and more softer. I thought Grace was good with him.
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G
I think they're a terrible couple. Please split them up. She's not a good character and Nolan can do better.
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E
No spark in their relationship. Chemistry is just missing
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T
I am hoping to not see them as a team!! She seems so fake in the show, perhaps change the way her character is perceived!
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F
Hopefully a divorce that leads to Bailey leaving the show
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A
I agree with majority of comments I would like to see them split. It’s always about what Bailey wants in the relationship. She is selfish and self absorbed. She didn’t want kids and they agreed no kids and then she did so they were going to try. Even her reaction to John questioning her about the whole Molvado thing… he said it exactly right, what she did was criminal conspiracy and if/when it ever comes out it’ll be bye bye LAPD Nolan bc he knew and said/did nothing about it and then her entire response to that is essentially “HOW DARE YOU JUDGE ME FOR BEING SCARED”?! Like no, she can eff right off with that stuff, she wanted the man dead and helped make it happen.
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M
Me too
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L
Bailey is the worst. Shes to Involved and annoying. Terrible acting too. I was hoping they split when her husband came back
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T
Never been a fan of Baily. She is not a cop but she ends up teaming up with Nolan to Ninja fight bad guys. That is no way realistic and like others have already said she is selfish. By the way she hired a hitman and nothing came of that.
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Z
Sorry, not a Bailey fan.. bring back the blond dr
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L
More worried about Lucy and Tim
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T
Can she go back to her original face?
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D
I have never really liked the character of Bailey. She’s too perfect. She knows too much. She has zero flaws which makes her character extremely unrealistic. She’s a firefighter. She’s a soldier. She’s a paramedic. She can leap tall buildings in a single bound! Nolan is always catering to her, and the only joy I got out of their characters together was when he finally stood up to her telling her she’s never happy just being. I thought when she went to DC that we’d finally be rid of her, but no such luck.
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G
Not a Bailey fan. Nolan needs a softer more dedicated woman.
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C
Maybe in her quest for constant movement, she can move out
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G
Have them work as a team to solve the crime and save people...a combo of fire, rescue, and arrests!
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B
We all need to see more of Bailey Nune walking around in nothing but a towel. [Like Season 3 Episode 14 when she 1st meets Nolan]
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