Television is on a generational run right now, and yet a long-running ABC crime procedural is somehow cutting through all of that noise. The series has been running since 2018 and is now seeing a massive surge in streaming across multiple platforms and countries. A big reason for the renewed interest could be Nathan Fillion, whose profile has only grown since he played Guy Gardner in Supermanlast year.
The show follows Fillion as a middle-aged man who becomes the oldest rookie in the LAPD after a life-changing incident pushes him toward a second career in law enforcement. It is the kind of premise that sounds super cliché, but the execution has earned it a loyal global fanbase over the years. The episodes are tightly structured and end on perfectly placed cliffhangers, which is a big reason the show has become one of the most binge-friendly procedurals on television. Eight seasons in, and that formula has not worn out.
As per FlixPatrol, The Rookie has landed in the Netflix Top 10 in 13 countries, including Belgium, France, and Sweden. The show is gaining real international traction on a platform that wasn’t even its original home. And that kind of cross-border momentum is a strong signal of genuine audience interest, especially since streaming is dominated by superhero shows like The Boys, Invincible, and Daredevil: Born Again, all of which are airing new episodes.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
In the U.S., ‘The Rookie’ Is an Even Bigger Hit
Interestingly, though, The Rookie is absent from the U.S. Netflix charts because it is not available to stream on Netflix in the United States. In America, The Rookie streams on Hulu, where it is currently the #1 most popular show. And it has consistently ranked in the Top 10 this entire week. This is a remarkable feat, especially considering the competition. Paradisejust finished airing its second season on Hulu, and that show has been nothing short of a phenomenon. Its first season was a breakout hit; it took a genre-defying turn from a murder mystery into an apocalyptic thriller. Season 2 pushed things even further by moving the story into sci-fi territory with time-travel elements, and it has earned even more praise than the first season. The fact that The Rookie has already surpassed such a high-profile, critically acclaimed series to claim the top spot speaks volumes about its popularity and staying power.
The Rookie is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S. New episodes air Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, with next-day streaming available on Hulu. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
