ABC’s The Rookie: North pilot has landed a This Is Us star.
Deadline reports Chris Sullivan has been cast in the potential spinoff of The Rookie.
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Sullivan is set to play Sgt. Nix, a “recently promoted Watch Commander whose heart still wants to be out on the street.” If ABC moves forward with the series, Sullivan will be a series regular. He will star opposite Top Gun: Maverick star Jay Ellis, who is leading The Rookie: North as Alex Holland. Unlike short-lived spinoff The Rookie: Feds, North will get a standalone pilot rather than a backdoor pilot on the Mothership, which is in its eighth season.
The series, from The Rookie creator Alexi Hawley, follows Alex, who “believed his midlife wasn’t worthy of a crisis. But after a violent home invasion ignites a dormant purpose, Alex battles a lifetime of failed commitments in Los Angeles by joining the Pierce County Police Department in Washington as its oldest rookie. Policing from the urban coast to the rural forest where backup isn’t just five minutes away, Alex must prove to his skeptical training officer, his fellow rookies, and himself that he’s finally found something worthy of the fight.”
Chris Sullivan is best known for his role as Toby Damon in all six seasons of the NBC drama This Is Us, which ran from 2016 to 2022. He can most recently be seen as Bill Kunkle in Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy and is also known as Taserface in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Tom Cleary in the Cinemax period drama The Knick. Additional credits include Megamind Rules!, The Calling, Vampirina, Amphibia, I Trapped the Devil, Camping, Stranger Things, Peter Pan Live!, and North Starr.
The Rookie: North is produced by Lionsgate and 20th Television. Hawley serves as writer and executive producer through his Perfectman Pictures banner. The Rookie star Nathan Fillion is also an EP alongside Mark Gordon, Bill Norcross, and Michelle Chapman. Additional information on the pilot has not been revealed, but more casting is likely to be announced in the coming months. If ordered to series, the show is looking to premiere next season, so at this time, there are no plans for Ellis to appear on the Mothership this season.
For now, a new episode of The Rookie airs on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC, before officially moving to its new Mondays at 10 p.m. ET slot on Jan. 26.