A few days after Netflix‘s gut-wrenching cancelation of The Recruit, its showrunner and creator, Alexi Hawley, is letting the disappointment roll off like water off a duck’s back, and he’s ready to dive straight into another project. The man who is also behind the fan-favorite police procedural, The Rookie, is in the process of developing another network cop series, according to a new Deadline report. The yet-untitled series is in development at NBC and has already found its star in Jon Huertas, whom many will recognize for his role as Jack’s best friend, Miguel Rivas, in the Emmy Award-winning series This Is Us. Huertas, in addition to starring, will serve as executive producer alongside Hawley, with Rachel Abarbanell as co-executive producer.
Like The Rookie, the series will center on the LAPD but will tell a markedly different story as inspired by Candice Fox‘s bestselling novel, Fire with Fire. Wendy Mericle (So Help Me Todd, Willow) will develop a script while serving as co-showrunner. The project already has an intriguing premise in place and it reads:
“When a pair of grieving parents hijack an LAPD forensics lab and threaten to start destroying evidence until the police find their missing daughter, an unlikely partnership between grizzled undercover cop Enrique Arroyo (Huertas) and rookie flame-out Lynette Lamb is forged as they race to solve this cold case before the situation explodes.”
Hawley and Huertas are frequent collaborators whose previous projects together include Castle, a drama series about a mystery novelist Richard Castle (Nathan Fillon) and a homicide detective, Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), who reluctantly team up to solve a murder case before falling for each other. The show, which had Hawley as an executive producer, starred Huertas as Detective Javier Esposito, an army vet who worked closely with Beckett. Castle was a hit for ABC, running for eight successful seasons. Huertas is already a familiar face with the NBC audience as he next starred in the network’s drama series, This Is Us, throughout its six-season run, before going on a two-year acting hiatus to focus on directing. The new series with Hawley will mark his return to NBC and both will be hoping for a resounding welcome.
Alexi Hawley’s TV Portfolio Is Expanding
With the Fire with Fire series adaptation, Hawley looks to take his TV dominance to a new territory. The creator is currently working on developing another The Rookie spin-off, which will center around a cop in Washington D.C. He is also developing a series on Hulu, The Envoy, which is inspired by journalist Adam Ciralsky’s June 2024 Vanity Fair story about Roger Carstens‘ hostage rescue efforts at the State Department. The latest project comes as part of his overall deal with Lionsgate Television and is a collaboration with Universal Television.
Despite The Recruit‘s cancellation, Hawley expressed in a heartfelt farewell speech to fans that he was open to the idea of concluding Owen Hendricks’ story with a movie. The Recruit is still available to stream on Netflix while The Rookie is deep into Season 7 on ABC.
via Collider