Castle star Nathan Fillion plays a 40-year-old 'Rookie' police officer in new crime-comedy drama

Firefly and Castle star Nathan Fillion is ready for action as a police officer in ABC’s new drama The Rookie — up to a point. Fillion told a TV critics’ meeting on 7 August that his “knees would appreciate it” if he can have a stuntman do the running for him. The 47-year-old actor joked that at this point in his life, “kneeling is a stunt for me.” [caption id=“attachment_4930921” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Nathan Fillion in a promo for The Rookie. ABC[/caption] In The Rookie, Fillion plays John Nolan, a 40-year-old man whose midlife crisis after a divorce takes him from small-town Pennsylvania to the Los Angeles Police Department. His police colleagues are, however, not appreciative of his presence as he is twice the age of his fellow rookies, according to Deadline. Fillion, who starred in ABC’s Castle, said he believes there’s a cultural wave of people reinventing their lives like his character in The Rookie. “This is the new normal,” Fillion said. “Now it’s the reboot, the do-over. Not everybody is going to become a rookie cop.” The drama, which includes Richard T Jones, Afton Williamson and Alyssa Diaz in the cast, is created and written by former Castle executive producer and co-showrunner Alexi Hawley. The Rookie debuts on 16 October. (With inputs from The Associated Press)