BEVERLY HILLS, California — Although he hit pay dirt with his successful series Castle, actor Nathan Fillion is starting all over again.
In his new role on ABC’s The Rookie, he plays a rookie cop. And not just any novice. He’s the oldest recruit on the Los Angeles Police Department — a 40-year-old who has decided to reinvent himself by taking on one of the toughest jobs in the city.
It was a no-brainer, says Fillion, when executive producer Alexi Hawley phoned him one day.
“And he said: ‘So I had this idea. We found this thing, and we were thinking about ...’ If you know who you are going to be working for, who you are going to be working with, you know that you can rely on their talent, you know you can respect the way they work. It takes a lot of the guesswork and a lot of the tension out of a decision,” says Fillion.
Hawley had served as executive producer on 22 of the Castle episodes. “I know I can bank on Alexi,” says Fillion. “We’ve worked together before with tremendous success. We’ve had a lovely time working together. [Executive producer] Mark Gordon’s resumé speaks for itself, and the man is lovely.”
So confident was he in Hawley that Fillion took on the job before the script was even written. “That was new for me, a new a first,” says the actor, who also has had roles in the films Serenity, Waitress and Slither, and TV’s Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Desperate Housewives, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place and scores of voice-overs.
“Here I am, at 47 years old, still experiencing firsts,” he grins.
“I love it. All the right ingredients were there. All the auspices were there. It’s everything we need for a successful show. I feel pretty smart saying yes to this one. I really do. Does that sound weird?”
Fillion says he knows what it’s like to be a greenhorn. “My first rookie experience, I was on a soap opera. I think if there is any kind of intense training for acting, daytime drama is what that is. You make a 44-minute program every day of the week, sometimes more than that. It’s a lot. It’s a lot to do, and it’s hard work. But by the end of it, you are ready to attack anything. Not a day goes by in this career of mine where I don’t use something I learned on the soap in front of or behind the camera. It has been the most valuable experience of my career.”
Hawley — who is the twin brother of Noah Hawley, creator of TV’s Fargo — says it was producer Mark Gordon who came up with the idea for The Rookie. “I got a phone call from Mark Gordon, basically saying that they had the life rights to a guy who had changed his life and come out to L.A. to be the oldest rookie in the LAPD and was I interested in putting together that show? And I don’t have to tell you how hard it is to find a fresh way in — especially to a cop show in 2018,” he said.
“And I felt like I hadn’t heard that before. And I also immediately understood the character potential of that character. Then that very quickly became a conversation about whether Nathan would be interested in being that rookie. I was fearful that he didn’t want to work so hard again so quickly after Castle.”
But Fillion was excited to work that hard, though he admits the stunts can be debilitating for a guy on the slippery side of 45. “Listen, I’m at the point in my life where, if I can have a stunt guy run down the street for me, these knees will appreciate it. They really do,” he said.
The Rookie airs Tuesdays on ABC.
