One thing everyone should know about Nathan Fillion: Hes happiest making TV.
Work just isnt daunting to the guy whos gone from geek god to household name on the small screen.
Filming in 90-degree-plus heat north of Los Angeles in a wool cop uniform?
Jeff Riedel for EW
(Hey, he aims to like, not tomisbehave.)
He easily could have.
And besides, Hawley figured Fillion would rather take a break.
Tony Rivetti/ABC
Nathan had gotten to a place where he didnt have to do a lot of work.
With the star on board, ABC gave the project astraight-to-series orderlast fall.
John Nolans strength is that he has lived for [40-plus] years, Hawley says.
Jeff Riedel for EW
Hes a rookie police officer with an empathy 25-year-olds dont have.
Nathan was the perfect embodiment of that.
(As for what Fillion himself has learned from age?
Patience, he answers and then immediately retracts.
Actually, Im not patient, Im grumpy, he jokes.
Im an old man.)
She understands that once youve lived your life, youre going to see problems differently, Mason says.
The other cops dont always look outside the box.
I wanted to do a modern version of a throwback cop show.
Or, as Winter puts it, ItsGreys AnatomymeetsHill Street Blues.
Plus a healthy helping of optimism.
I want the show to be aspirational.
I want to see our cops act the way we would want police officers to act.
Adds Williamson, It makes us fall back in love with the idea of cops.
I see how hard it is.
Fillion hopes the strategy will resonate and last beyond one season.
After all, he wouldnt have taken the job if he didnt think it would.
My perspective [on the projects I take] has changed, he admits.
Is the story an engine that can keep a show running, keep it moving for years?
This, I think, had all the right ingredients.
I think this is really, really well-timed, he continues.
This is a cultural shift were seeing, where people are starting their lives over halfway through.
Not everybody can relate to being cops, right?
But people can certainly relate to a do-over.
Or, for him, a do-again.
The Rookiedebuts Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 10 p.m.
