Right when fans were getting into the newest season of The Rookie, ABC dropped some unexpected news that changes some important details about future episodes. Don't get attached to the network's current Tuesday night lineup because it will soon have quite the shake-up.
Beginning on Monday, Jan. 26, The Rookie season 8 will take up residence in its new post-American Idol timeslot. The police procedural will no longer air on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET after Will Trent and High Potential. Instead, ABC has opted to move The Rookie to Mondays at 10 p.m. after the hit reality competition series. According to Deadline, the remaining episodes of season 8 will air without reruns.
Surely, it's quite the bummer for fans of the long-running series, especially since The Rookie's momentum could potentially seen a slight upheaval after only three episodes have aired. The show's season 8 premiere viewership gained on season 7's, with the episode attracting 7.88 million total viewers in three days across multi-platform viewing, per Deadline.
But there's no doubt that devoted viewers will follow the show to its new timeslot one day earlier, and for those who watch the series on Hulu, The Rookie will technically still air on Tuesdays, since episodes are added to Hulu next-day. But what's the reason for the swap? A hot new series!
The Rookie season 8 moves to give timeslot to RJ Decker premiere
ABC shook up its primetime schedule to make some room for its highly anticipated new midseason replacement series. Scott Speedman stars in the new detective drama RJ Decker, which will make its premiere on Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 10 p.m. ET. The series takes over The Rookie's old timeslot and gains High Potential as a lead-in, which will definitely help launch the new show.
It's curious that ABC decided to move The Rookie to Monday nights weeks ahead of RJ Decker's premiere in March. Giving fans three weeks of normalcy and then quickly upending the current schedule for an off-the-cuff switch could cause confusion and frustration. The Rookie could have easily continued to air on Tuesdays until RJ Decker arrived in March.
ABC hasn't confirmed what will air in The Rookie's place until the RJ Decker series premiere on March 3, though repeated episodes and other special airings could fill that time. The network also hasn't shared its programming plans while the Olympics air on NBC in February. It's possible that in order not to compete, High Potential will air reruns for a few weeks in order to stay on the air with RJ Decker.
Speedman stars in the series, which is based on Carl Hiaasen's novel Double Whammy, as the titular character. He's a former newspaper photographer and ex-con who begins a second chapter as a private investigator in South Florida. He takes on strange cases with help from his ex and other people from his past and tries his best to not land back in trouble.
Given the procedural drama also has a sense of humor, it's perfectly matched with High Potential as a lead-in. Fans of Kaitlin Olson's hit series are more likely to stick around to try RJ Decker than perhaps the American Idol crowd would be. As much as The Rookie fans probably hope the show wouldn't be on the move, there's a clear method to ABC's madness.