How The Rookie: Feds Will Take Things One Step Further Than The Rookie

"The Rookie" has been a return to form for its lead, Nathan Fillion. After four seasons of being the oldest rookie in the history of the LAPD, it returns for season five on Sept 25th. During season four, fans were introduced to a fun new character named Simone Clark (Niecy Nash-Betts). She is brand new to the FBI, with similar parallels to John Nolan (Fillion) in that she is the oldest FBI trainee at Quantico. In the episode, she shows a little insecurity in her ability to get people on her side and believe in her, similar to Nolan in season one. Nolan convinced her that her life experience more than made up for her lack of youth, much as it did for him.

Audiences discovered she was a former youth counselor who worked with troubled youth, giving her insight into how young, troubled souls think. She was a fun character to see, and the actress spoke at Comic-Con about Agent Clark (as reported by Entertainment Weekly), "We all know someone like Simone. I grabbed a little bit from different women in my life. She is that friend in your head or your favorite auntie. I was like, I know this woman; she is a culmination of so many women, so let me just bake a little bit in from the women I love and like to be around."

The episode served as a backdoor pilot to the series' first spin-off, "The Rookie: Feds." The series will follow Agent Clark as she navigates the FBI, her parents' disapproval of her decision to go into law enforcement, and her age. Showrunner Terence Paul Winter also spoke up at SDCC to reveal that "Feds" will go places that "The Rookie" never could. Literally.

One aspect of "The Rookie" that adds to the character-driven series is that it stays street-level. The drama unfolds almost entirely on the streets of Los Angeles because the officers are restrained by their jurisdiction. The FBI, however, is not constrained by such restraints, and the series will depict that.

"Because we're a federal organization, Los Angeles is not the only place where we do her work," Winter said at SDCC. "We have a jet plane, and we often fly. We go to Texas, Mississippi, Florida. It opens up the show in an exciting way. We're going to be all over Los Angeles, all over the nation, and we might even go overseas."

The prospect of the team hopping on a jet and traveling across the country gives some serious "Criminal Minds" vibes. The stakes of a series that involves traveling across the country could also be much higher, giving the series some weight that "The Rookie" has somewhat lacked.