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His first visit to New Zealand was an out-of-this-world experience that The Rookie star Nathan Fillion is keen to repeat.
“I felt like a little bit like I was in an episode of Star Trek because I was sort of on a different planet,” he says.
“I could breathe the air and everybody spoke English but the plants were different and the leaves were different colours and there were flowers I’d never seen before. I felt like I was visiting on a starship.
“Now that things are back to normal, I’ve put a really high priority on travel and seeing the world again. I have some friends there that it’s been too long since I’ve seen them so can see myself coming to New Zealand.”
Meanwhile, the 52-year-old Canadian American is grounded in Los Angeles waiting for the Hollywood writers’ strike to end so production can begin on the sixth season of his hit police drama The Rookie.
The series follows the life of John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the Los Angeles Police Department.
Canadian American Nathan Fillion as John Nolan in the US crime drama series The Rookie.
Nolan also appears frequently in the drama’s spin-off, The Rookie: Feds, which launched this year.
In season five of The Rookie, Nolan has taken on the trainer role for new recruit Celina Juarez, played by DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow actor Lisseth Chavez.
“It’s kind of a built-in factor of the shows that every season there is going to be something a little new and a little different for John Nolan in this new life that he’s chosen,” Fillion says. “Now he’s not a rookie any more, the title of the show becomes more metaphoric for the journey he’s taking.
“I’m sure he had dreams of detective when he started, but he made some poor choices and that avenue wasn’t open to him any more.
“But then he realised that his experience being trained was what really moved him and that was what he wanted to provide for other people.”
The Rookie is firmly rooted in reality. It is based on the real-life story of John Norcross, who made a mid-life decision to achieve his aim of joining the police.
He set up home in an old friend’s guest house so he could apply to the LAPD which is one of the only precincts that takes on recruits older than 37.
“We borrowed that story and while we’re not the first cop show (ever made), our angle is the idea of the reboot, of someone starting life again,” Fillion says.
“And while not everyone can relate to being a cop, people can certainly relate to a reboot.”
Raymond Liu
New recruit Celina Juarez played by Lisseth Chavez and John Nolan played by Nathan Fillion in The Rookie.
Fillion has heard stories of The Rookie inspiring other older people to follow in his character’s footsteps.
“I even heard about a priest who became a police officer. I have heard of specific instances but, even more, I have heard of people being inspired to start again, saying, ‘This isn’t a midlife crisis, it’s actually just something I’ve always wanted to do and why not start now?’ ”
Fillion has also thought about what he would do if he were no longer an actor.
“Would I teach acting? Would I direct? Would I write or would I buy a boat and do sunset cocktail cruises?”
However, right now he is more than happy to be starring in two series and has plenty of ideas for future spinoffs – The Rookie: Submarine anyone?
Temma Hankin
A scene from The Rookie: Feds (above), a spinoff series from The Rookie.
“I really enjoy the police part of the show. It’s really fun because anytime the radio goes off, there’s a call that comes in and you just never know what it’s going to be. Is it going to be something weird and goofy like live snakes to deal with or is it going to be something serious, someone in trouble?” he says.
“Plus the characters are living, breathing human beings, the way every police officer out there is a living, breathing human being and they bring their own stuff to the table.
“I just marked my 25th year in business this year and this is the best job I’ve ever had.”
That’s a pretty big statement given his resume, which includes a starring role in cult favourite Firefly and its movie spinoff Serenity, eight seasons as author-turned-amateur sleuth Richard Castle in Castle and, just this year, a role in Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3.
“It’s very easy to look back on your career and say, ‘Oh, those were the good old days’, but I am right now in the good old days.
“I can’t believe this is my life. I pinch myself constantly.
“Every day I go to the beautiful Paramount Studios, I drive through that incredible gate and I work on a TV show, take a break for lunch, and then walk around the other corner of the lot and I work on a different TV show (The Rookie: Feds). It just feels right.”
The Rookie, TVNZ 2, Monday.
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