‘The Rookie’: Why Nathan Fillion Is a Very ‘Rare Leading Man’
Actor Nathan Fillion has become a reliable leading man when it comes to shows like The Rookie. He was already attached to the hit series Castle, and continued his success with the police procedural. The Rookie creator himself once explained why he felt Fillion might’ve stood out from other leading men in the entertainment industry.
‘Rookie’ creator Alexi Hawley reveals why Nathan Fillion is a different leading man
Hawley already had Fillion in mind before he even had his first script for The Rookie. The producer only had a premise for the show, which he thought Fillion might’ve had trouble putting faith in. The actor also just finished up doing another long-running series in Castle. At the time, Fillion might not have been ready to do yet another network series full time. Much to Hawley’s surprise, though, Fillion was more than willing to give The Rookie a shot.
“I would always work with Nathan if I could,” Hawley once told Assignment X. “I mean, he is not only a phenomenal actor, but he’s a great guy, and he’s a real partner. When I got the phone call about the show, he was the first name that jumped into my mind and Mark Gordon’s mind. I just wasn’t sure whether he was ready to come back and be a full-time lead on network television. And I was lucky enough to get him to trust me. Because [at the time Fillion signed on] there wasn’t a script. We sold this as a pitch to series, which never happens, and so it was a mad scramble to get a script and start making a show.”
It turned out to be a great decision for Fillion, who’d end up with another successful television show under his belt. The fact that the actor was so fortunate with his television career wasn’t lost on him. But he asserted he had little influence over how successful, or how long, his shows were.
“I always feel like I’m a passenger on a train, that I am not in control. I’m not in the locomotive, but I’m doing everything I can from one of the cars in the back to make sure it keeps going. That’s all I got,” Fillion said in a separate interview with Assignment X.
However, Hawley theorized why so many gravitated towards Fillion in his television shows.
“Here’s what I would say about Nathan and why I think he resonates so much with people is, he is a very rare leading man who’s willing to fall down, to be seen to fail, to be seen to be the butt of a joke, to basically be human,” he said. “I think so many leading men on television feel like they need to be perfect or infallible, and I think there’s such humanity to Nathan, whether he’s the captain of a starship, or whether he’s a mystery writer, or whether he’s the oldest rookie in the LAPD. And I think that’s why people want to watch him, is because they see that you can fall down and still get back up again.”
What Nathan Fillion wants the legacy of ‘The Rookie’ to be
Fillion seemed already prepared to commit to The Rookie. Hawley was perhaps his main reason for signing on to the show. Fillion was already familiar with Hawley’s writing style, as the two already previously worked together. Hawley worked as a co-showrunner in season 8 of Castle.
“I know how he likes to tell stories. I know how he likes to run a show, which is incredibly important because that’s my day-to-day, day in and day out. What I saw was that he had an interesting new ‘in’ to the police show. This concept of the restart for John Nolan, that was our pathway into this classic TV genre. And what I’ve noticed since is that it’s the engine that will keep this thing moving,” Fillion recently told The Hollywood Reporter.
Since its debut, the show has had a strong run. It’s already on season 6, and might end up with as many or more seasons than Castle. With its longevity, Fillion reflected on what he’d like the legacy of Rookie to be.
“I would hope the legacy is it turns out to be one of those classic TV shows that people always think about when they think about cop shows, something they think about when they think about a reset. I want it to become, not iconic, but culturally embedded. If legacy means it has to end first, I hope our legacy doesn’t come for a while yet,” he said.
