Looks Like The Rookie Writers Don't Know What to Do With Nolan Anymore
Or maybe his actor doesn't.
From the beginning of The Rookie, John Nolan (Nathan Fillon) was the show's main character — and the past tense 'was' is intended here, as his role on the show has clearly changed a lot lately. What's more, it now looks like the writers don't really know what to do with this character.
And there's plenty of evidence to support this claim.
For one, John Nolan hasn't become the great cop that he dreamed to be — he is now a subpar training officer, coaching an insubordinate rookie. He gets one-upped by just about everyone, including his own fiancée, who seems better than him at everything, and his co-workers, who steal the spotlight doing all the actual police work.
Meanwhile, John himself meanders around, busy with one silly thing or another, whatever the writers concocted for him this week. Fans argue that Fillon's character has been long stuck in one place — and not in a good place, either.
By the way, this lack of development cannot be explained by the show's writers or producers having something against Fillon, as the actor himself is one of the producers. Actually, it's quite likely that pushing Nolan to the background might be Fillon's own initiative.
Now that The Rookie has gotten an established ensemble cast, he might be happy with his role as just one of the cast members, not carrying the whole show as the central character. Furthermore, Fillion may consider his role as the producer on the show to be more important for its success.
However, neglecting Nolan and denying him character development, which he can well have even if he's not at the forefront of every episode, still doesn't seem like a good idea. Fans think there are some obvious directions in which the writers can take the character.
For starters, he can perform his duties as a training officer and make sure his rookie actually learns from the training. For now, however, the writers don't seem to be willing to go for this development, and this really saddens fans.
The next episode of The Rookie comes out on May 2, 2023.