This new series is being developed by The Rookie creator Alexi Hawley and has a good chance of getting a pilot order once the lead role is cast. A number of well-known actors (men in their 40s and 50s) have already been approached for the role.
Set in Washington State, the story centers on Alex, a former overachiever whose life has taken a turn for the worse. He decides to make a fresh start as a rookie cop, similar to how John Nolan joined the LAPD later in life in The Rookie.
The series also includes regular elements such as training agents, other rookies and a police chief, just like in the original concept. Unlike The Rookie: Feds, which was introduced via a mothership episode, The Rookie North is being developed directly as a standalone pilot.
In addition to this spin-off, a long-awaited reboot of Scrubs is also in the works. However, this reboot is proving to be a complex project, partly because creator Bill Lawrence currently has an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. TV and extensive negotiations are needed to bring back the original cast.
So far, Lawrence (as a developer and executive producer, but not a full-time showrunner) and lead actor Zach Braff have been confirmed. The idea is for Scrubs 2.0 to be a hybrid: part revival revisiting the old characters 15 years after the original series, and part reboot with new surgical interns.
ABC is also betting on comedy. Two new family comedies are in the running for a pilot order. The first is Do You Want Kids?, a project ABC won in a competitive bid last October.
This single-camera comedy is written and produced by Crazy Ex-Girlfriend star Rachel Bloom and her husband Dan Gregor, with Steven Levitan serving as executive producer. The series follows a married couple whose lives unfold in two parallel universes: in one they have a child, in the other they do not.
The second comedy pilot is Mittens, written and executive produced by Victor Quinaz, with former Black-ish showrunner Courtney Lilly serving as co-executive producer. The contemporary family comedy is told from the perspective of a cat, Mittens, who secretly lives in three different houses on a cul-de-sac. Warren Littlefield and his team at The Littlefield Company are also attached to the project.
These promising new projects are also being met with a number of comedies that have been dropped. For example, Friends & Family, starring Cobie Smulders, and The Sandwich, written and performed by Jessica St. Clair and Kyle Bornheimer, are no longer in the running.
So far, only one new scripted series has been confirmed for the 2025-26 season: 9-1-1: Nashville , which received a straight-to-series order in February. Should The Rookie North move forward, ABC could potentially launch spinoffs of two of its biggest drama hits, The Rookie and 9-1-1, next year.
