A major star of The Rookie just made a surprise appearance on a CW drama, but could it lead to more appearances there?
The Rookie fans are still patiently waiting for season 8 of the hit series. ABC made the decision to hold the season until January 2026, which will then run without any interruptions. It’s a strategy that worked great in 2025 and hopefully helps the show.
That means production only just started and may even wrap up by the end of 2025. That also means some of the cast are a bit freer to appear on other shows, as one star did on the season 4 finale of the CW drama Family Law.
What is Family Law about?
For those who haven’t seen it, Family Law began in 2021 on the Canadian network Global. In 2022, the CW acquired the rights to broadcast it in the U.S. and it has built up an audience.
The series focuses on Abigail Bianchi (Jewel Staite), a lawyer who goes on a tailspin when her husband cheats on her and she falls into drinking. After an embarrassing incident in court, Abby is put on probation and has to work for the law firm run by her long-estranged father, Harry Svensson (Victor Garber), along with her half-siblings, Daniel (Zach Smadu) and Lucy (Genelle Williams).
The show balances Abby recovering from her drinking, handling unique court cases and slowly bonding with her estranged family. The fourth season ended with Harry and Abby’s mother, Joanne (Lauren Holly), getting remarried, and also an unexpected shock to all!
Which The Rookie star showed up on Family Law?
The closing moments of the finale had Harry prepping for his honeymoon while Abby (who had taken back her maiden name) was now an equity partner. As Victor was heading out, a man named Bud Nielsen (Nathan Fillion) burst in, telling Harry, “I’m your son.” The season ended with Bud embracing a stunned Harry while everyone else looked on in wonder.
The casting of Fillion as Bud is a surprise, as one would think he’d be too busy on The Rookie to do more appearances. There is an obvious reason as Fillion and Staite rose to fame co-starring in the cult sci-fi series Firefly. Staite also made an appearance on Fillion’s hit mystery series Castle.
The question is whether Fillion will be sticking around as Bud. It should be noted that, as of yet,Family Law has yet to be renewed for a fifth season, although it seems the producers are hopeful for it with that cliffhanger. If it is, it will no doubt pick up right from there with everyone dealing with Bud’s appearance.
The big mystery is whether Bud really is Harry’s son or not. It’s established that Harry has a long history of sleeping around (he even slept with one of Daniel’s girlfriends) and Abby, Daniel, and Lucy have even half-joked that they may have other siblings out there they don’t know about. It’s thus utterly possible Harry fathered another child without knowing it.
It can also be that Bud is some sort of con artist running a scam, or perhaps he’s just mistaken about Harry being his dad. The role is likely only going to be for a few episodes, so Fillion would have time to fit it in around The Rookie’s filming, depending on when production on season 5 starts.
As of now, fans can be hopeful that Fillion will be balancing two TV shows in 2026 that show different sides to himself to remind folks how much fun he can be as an actor.
The Rookie season 8 will premiere in January 2026 on ABC. Family Law is available to stream on CWTV.com.
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