The Rookie heads north, with Tim and Lucy on viewers' minds
ABC pairs The Rookie and The Rookie North in a premiere promo, while the comments focus on the familiar characters' predicament.
Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 38,212 views a day, 23 times a normal first day on this channel (1,668).
From L.A. to the Pacific Northwest, the call goes out Wednesday, January 6. 🚨
Los Angeles and the Pacific Northwest share the billing, but Tim and Lucy are getting much of the attention beneath ABC's new Rookie promo. Viewers are asking whether the characters are being tortured, recalling Lucy's earlier confinement and wondering how their colleagues might respond.
Those are viewers' readings of a teaser, not a settled account of the plot. What ABC does announce is a shared Wednesday, January 6 premiere date for The Rookie and The Rookie North. The short reached about 20,000 views in nine hours, already well beyond the audience an ordinary ABC Short draws over its entire first day. Its comment section is also far busier than usual.
The geographic expansion has a separate introduction on the channel: another promo names Alex Holland as The Rookie North's new rookie. Alongside it, ABC is teasing the original show's return with a promise to pick up moments left unresolved by the finale.
Not all of ABC's unusually fast-moving clips are about police drama. A Scrubs short titled "Blake needed this moment, and this moment needed Blake. ❤️" also drew a much larger early audience than usual, giving the channel a comedy moment alongside its Rookie suspense.
Published on Trari
Where next?
What viewers say
I DID NOT THINK A CLIP OF THE NEW SEASON WOULD COME THIS EARLY
@t1m_br4df0rdSee it on YouTubeThey got Tim looking like Oliver Queen
@JarreraidSee it on YouTubeSince we haven’t seen Nolan and Lucy’s friendship showcased as much lately, I hope we see a scene of panic in Nolan(obviously everyone is gonna be going crazy) like idk, Bailey has to calm him down and such
@YaionBaquedanoSee it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
- Channel
- ABC
- Subscribers
- 3,300,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 5,277,482
- Channel views, pace per day
- 2,631,047 (on a normal day: 1,415,939)
- Video published
- October 11, 2026
- Video views so far
- 20,535 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 38,212
The numbers
The Rookie promo passed ABC's usual full-day Shorts audience within its first nine hours. The Scrubs clip also made an unusually strong start.
💡 Test your knowledge
Who plays John Nolan in The Rookie?
Nathan Fillion plays John Nolan, the late-starting police rookie at the center of the series.



