The latest update on The Rookie Season 6 offered an update as to when the hit series will finally be released.
Starring Firefly lead Nathan Fillion as an LAPD police officer who joins the force after a mid-life crisis, The Rookie became one of ABC's biggest hits in recent years.
Season 5 - which aired back in early 2023 - averaged roughly 3.18 million viewers (via TV Line), setting up a sixth season that was initially set to air this fall.
However, because of the actors' and writers' strikes (which both have been resolved) Season 6's debut was delayed, as production was unable to get started over the summer.
The Rookie Season 6 Gets an Exciting Update
As the SAG-AFTRA strike in Hollywood comes to an end, The Rookie Season 6 got an exciting production and release update.
As reported by Deadline, The Rookie is one of ABC's high-priority series now that the actors are back to work.
This means the hit TV drama will be one of the first series from the network (co-produced by ABC and E-One Entertainment), to get back in front of cameras with the work stoppage over.
Other priorities for ABC include Grey's Anatomy, Criminal Minds: Evolution, and 9-1-1.
Seeing as fans have been itching to know when The Rookie Season 6 would finally return, this production start news could be the first indication as to when the series might release.
According to the Deadline report, this late 2023 filming start for the series is being used by the networks for shows they are hoping to have drop sometime after the Super Bowl, which is currently set for February 11, 2024.
This would put The Rookie Season 6's release window in mid-February, with the chance it slips to early March being highly possible as well.
When Exactly Will The Rookie Season 6 Release?
As the Hollywood machine whirs back to life with the end of the months-long work stoppage, questions are going to start to percolate regarding when exactly some of these hit series will return with new episodes.
As for The Rookie Season 6, that mid-February to early March window feels like a natural fit.
However, it seems more than likely ABC is going to fast-track this series as best they can to hit the earlier side of that expected timeframe.
Following the incredible TV draw that is the Super Bowl, networks usually try to push their biggest and brightest out for viewers to tune in to, and The Rookie Season 6 might get that treatment.
Season 5 of the Nathan Fillion-led series saw the highest viewership numbers for the show in over two-and-a-half years (per TV Fanatic), so it would make sense for the network to hopefully ride some of that momentum into Season 6.
2024's Super Bowl LVIII is set to kick off on Sunday, February 11. That might be a little tight for The Rookie Season 6 to debut, but ABC would be smart to aim for that date and use the major bump in TV viewers that night for the series' long-waiting return.
Production on The Rookie Season 6 will likely get started in the coming weeks.
