Niecy Nash is eyeing her next star vehicle after Claws. She is set to star in a potential spinoff of ABC’s The Rookie as the network looks to possibly build a franchise.
Nash’s potential series will be introduced during a two-episode backdoor pilot during this current season of The Rookie. The backdoor pilot will find Nathan Fillion’s John Nolan meeting Nash’s Simone Clark, described as “a force of nature” and ‘the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy.”
“Simone has never shied away from a challenge or a fight,” according to the description. “She is a single mother of two who put her dreams on hold to make sure her kids pursued their own.” Simone will meet up with John when one of Simone’s former students is suspected of terrorism after an explosion at a power station.
"I'm so excited to guest atar on The Rookie and bring Simone Clark to life!" said Nash in a statement. "The cast is amazing and I can't wait to play!"
The Rookie has recently made news for taking on police brutality in a sympathetic way in conjunction with advice from Color of Change, which previously released a study regarding policing on television. Titus Makin said last year to Just Add Color that he was “thankful” the show was taking on police brutality.
“I was extremely thankful that they were advocating for us and joining us because we really are trying to continue to have the show be aspirational where it’s saying like, ‘Hey, we see what’s happening,” he said. “We’re not going to turn a deaf ear to it.’ We’re going to bring light to it, show it for show up for the reality that it is, but also point towards where policing should go and ultimately could go. So, I think with the show, we’re just gonna continue to shine light on real issues, but also keep the heart of it. So it’s not like another special, you know, like turning on the show and it’s [just like] another news broadcast, but where they can learn something, but also find some joy as well.”
The Rookie airs Sundays on ABC.
