It’s not a great day for spinoffs at ABC. The network has axed “The Rookie: Feds” after one season and will not move forward with “The Good Doctor” spinoff, “The Good Lawyer.”
The spinoff of ABC’s “The Rookie,” which was renewed for a sixth season, stars Niecy Nash-Betts as Simone Clark, the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy. The procedural was introduced as a two-part event during the current fourth season of “The Rookie,” where Officer John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and the LA division of the FBI enlist the help of Simone when one of her former students is a suspect in a terror attack.
Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter are co-creators, co-showrunners and executive producers. Mark Gordon, Niecy Nash-Betts, Nathan Fillion, Michelle Chapman, Bill Norcross, Corey Miller, Michael Goi and Bibby Dunn are executive producers. Entertainment One (eOne) is the lead studio and international distributor of “The Rookie: Feds,” a co-production with ABC Signature, a part of Disney Television Studios.
In June, Nash-Betts shared her hopes for a Season 2 pickup with Variety, noting the importance of her character Simone Clark, a Black woman who pursued her dream of joining the FBI at 48. “I’m happy for little Black and brown girls to see something that they can aspire to be. Less than 1% of Black women make up the FBI. She’s a Black woman over 40 in the FBI. She’s not married. She’s an equal-opportunity dater, if you know what I mean. Like, who is this unicorn? If she were a real person, she would definitely be my homegirl. She’s in her second act and she is making the best of it.”
Additionally, “The Good Doctor” spinoff, “The Good Lawyer,” has also been scrapped.
The series received a backdoor pilot order at ABC in January with Kennedy McMann and Felicity Huffman set to star. The episode aired on March 6, during Season 6 of “The Good Doctor” on March 6, focusing on Freddie Highmore’s Dr. Murphy putting his faith in a young lawyer who has obsessive-compulsive disorder (McMann).
Huffman, who famously starred in ABC’s hit “Desperate Housewives,” was set to star highly regarded attorney and partner Janet Stewart, who had “a fierce intellect and dry wit.”
Sony Pictures Television and ABC Signature produced.
