Right now, there’s a lot of focus on the 911 shows crossing over. While this makes a lot of sense, there are two cop dramas that would work well together, and there are ways that the two shows could make it work.
It’s all about Will Trent and The Rookie, and sure enough, the two air on the same night on ABC. In fact, they are both being held for 2026, following a similar pattern to the 2024–2025 TV season to eliminate long breaks as much as possible.
While they would be fun together, the storylines need to make sense. Well, we have it figured out, and now we’re ready for ABC to deliver us another multi-IP crossover.
Why Will Trent and The Rookie work perfectly together
While the two shows do film in different locations, they both air on the same night. They’re sure to have High Potential sandwiched between them again when they both return, but High Potential will end its second season before Will Trent season 4 and The Rookie season 8 wrap. This will put the two back-to-back again, if the 2024–2025 TV season is anything to judge.
Having the two shows on the same night is essential for a crossover event to work. Fans don’t want to wait another day to see how a crossover event concludes.
On top of that, the two shows have similar tones. While they are cop dramas, they also have comedic elements to their storytelling. They are made for entertainment rather than seriousness, although that’s not to take away from the serious storyliens that they do have now and then.
The two shows also have strong fan bases. Joining them together for an event would help to strengthen that.
Will Trent would need to travel to the world of The Rookie
There is only really one way that a crossover between the two could work. It would require the characters of Will Trent traveling to The Rookie’s world. After all, Will Trent is the one with federal agents that could find it much easier to travel into another jurisdiction. The show also airs first, meaning it would set up the storyline for The Rookie to conclude.
The simplest way to create a crossover is to have the suspect start off in Atlanta. This gets the APD and the GBI working together, only for the suspect to escape and head to Los Angeles. Will and others would then travel to Los Angeles to work with Nolan and his crew to finally take it all down.
This could even rope in some of the FBI: Feds characters, as we know they are still kicking around. It would make sense for it to suddenly become a federal investigation.
ABC has had multi-IP crossovers before
Is this likely to happen? Not at all. There are a lot of factors against it, with one of them being that the two are different IPs. However, ABC has seen multi-IPs crossover in the past.
We can just look at how Abbott Elementary and It’s Only Sunny in Philadelphia got a crossover recently. And while Doctor Odyssey is one of Ryan Murphy’s shows, it didn’t originally seem set in the 911 universe, until that crossover happened.
However, the shows that have crossed over have filmed in the same locations. With The Rookie and Will Trent, it’s much harder due to filming locations. So, as much fun as a crossover event could be, I don’t see it happening.
The Rookie season 8 and Will Trent season 4 are set to premiere in 2026 on ABC.