“The Rookie” creator Alexi Hawley has sealed a new, multi-year overall deal with Lionsgate Television — extending a pact he first made with the studio in 2024. The extension continues the writer/producer/showrunner’s work on “The Rookie” franchise while also developing and producing new scripted TV series for Lionsgate.
“The Rookie,” about to enter its Season 9, first launched on ABC in October 2018; at the time, it was produced by eOne Television. Lionsgate has been the show’s studio since Season 6 (2024), after its acquisition of eOne studio assets. “The Rookie” previously spawned the spinoff “The Rookie: Feds,” and now has the upcoming ABC spinoff “The Rookie: North,” starring Jay Ellis, coming next season.
Hawley serves as showrunner on both “The Rookie” and “The Rookie: North.” Next up, he’s developing “The Envoy” for HBO Max, from Lionsgate TV. The show, adapted from a Vanity Fair article by Adam Ciralsky, was previously set up at Hulu.
Ciralsky is also an exec producer on the show, which looks at “Roger Carstens and his team at the State Department who brought home 70 American hostages during his four-year tenure as Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. The article details an in-depth look at the U.S. government’s commitment to freeing hostages.”
