When ABC The Beginner if he returns to the service next Sunday, January 3rd at 10 / 9c, Officer John Nolan will have Lucy Ricardo ‘splaining’ levels to do.
The last time we were in tune with the procedure, Nolan (played by Nathan Fillion) and his TO Nyla Harper (Mekia Cox) gathered damning, if not circumstantial, evidence against Detective Nick Armstrong (Harold Perrineau) to suggest that the legend of district was following the orders of the crime chief, Serj Darien. When Nolan recklessly confronted Armstrong alone, shots were exchanged, with the latter being wounded. That’s when Armstrong revealed that he had taken steps to frame Nolan as the other dirty cop with whom the late Erin Cole was in cahoots – and this shooting will only corroborate that scenario.
Nolan ran home and searched frantically for evidence that Armstrong had planted somewhere. But as soon as he discovered a compartment built into the wall behind his headboard, sirens and lights arrived at his door, ready to make an arrest.
Although Officer Nolan is an expert, if he ever existed, he must now convince his superiors of Armstrong’s illegal company, while answering very difficult questions about his tactics and those of Harper.
TVLine invited showrunner Alexi Hawley to provoke what’s next, as well as the series’ plan to face a different kind of bad cop.
TVLINE | Coming out of the end, I asked how complicated things could be for “Boy Scout” John Nolan, and you said you were determined to make the most of it. How did it end?
I think we complicate things a lot. Obviously, there are some huge hurdles he needs to overcome, including the way he and Harper did business at the end of last season. So it’s not just Armstrong’s framework. It is also the repercussion of the path they chose to follow.
TVLINE | Will we see Harold and / or Annie Wersching at the premiere?
We’ll see more of both, actually – spoiler alert! Armstrong, of course, was shot by Nolan towards the end of the final, and he will try desperately to turn the mood against Nolan and Harper. And then Annie comes in [as serial killer Rosalind Dyer], in an unexpected way.
TVLINE | In fact, we talked for the last time not far from the pandemic, and you were barely beginning to imagine what the show would need to move on. You were thinking that you might have to “roll slowly” these past 30 days for newbies to stretch them out. What did you end up deciding to do?
We did that. Part of this was definitely driven by COVID; because of the protocols and because of security issues, I felt that we, as a show, couldn’t put our cops in a call room, honestly, which is one of our main sets. So, basically, we felt like, “Let’s just cover the first nine or 10 episodes, hoping that when we get there, things will change,” and I think the result of that was very good. It has been good to find out what those last 30 days are like as a newbie, both the “senioritis” that comes along with him – Lucy (Melissa O’Neil) and Jackson (Titus Makin Jr.) are basically kind of done with training officers and yet be students – but also, for Tim (Eric Winter), increased stress. “Well, I only have you for another 30 days, so I have to double my training and put it in the juicer one last time”, things like that.
TVLINE | Are you saying that Tim can really become even more intense during this final stretch?
Definitely. He feels like he only has a few more weeks with her, so he wants to make sure that she is properly trained before sending her out into the world.
TVLINE | At some point, will we find new beginners?
We will. You know, it’s interesting – we can’t make the call list and we’re kind of pushing along, but because it’s so emblematic of being a rookie, where you sit in the front row, the moment when our newbies move back it will be one thing. And obviously, when one or two new rookies show up, they’ll take over that place, too. I don’t want to damage the history of the series by not having those moments, but it’s a slow pace.
TVLINE | You gave me a teaser about the character Brandon Routh (Legends of Tomorrow) is playing, Officer Doug Stanton. Is he your main entry point on the topic of policing issues? Or are you going to approach this in several ways?
He’s definitely 1 of ways to get in, but we are approaching this in a number of ways. One of the things we have, which most other police programs don’t have, is that we are a patrol program. Most of the other programs are investigative and deal with one crime a week and, as a result, are somewhat hampered in how they can talk about police matters. But we do so many different things in each episode, so every call we make, on three different patrol cars, can be anything. This allows for the freedom to really address the complicated issues of policing – which are too many to name – honestly during the season.
Brandon’s character comes in as Jackson’s new training officer, since Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) is going to be promoted to detective, and he’s a problem. He is definitely a cop who goes overboard in ways that are especially uncomfortable for Jackson, and it allows us to ask, “How do you remedy that?” We know how difficult it is to discipline or get rid of the police when unions are so strong and because of the rules that exist to protect them. But you also have Jackson’s vulnerability as a rookie, who can be fired for anything, trying to navigate the waters of a training officer that he ultimately doesn’t respect. It’s very dynamic and very intense and, ultimately, it allows us to really push a lot of our characters into how they feel about things, in terms of Brandon’s character.
By the way: The fact that Brandon comes in and plays such a polarizing character in this climate is proof of his bravery as an actor and his commitment to this cause. It is potentially risky for him, but he is committed to illuminating this cause. I will be forever grateful that he is willing to step in and play a character that will be challenging.
TVLINE | What kind of personal stories are available this season?
We have a lot, actually. When we were interrupting season 3, we obviously felt a great responsibility to honor all these conversations about policing and to really dig into a lot of problems, but we also didn’t want to miss what made our show our show. We are not doing a service to anyone if we suddenly become American crime or a special after class – anything that isn’t The Beginner. Our show has a lot of fun, but at the same time we also do serious and romantic things, so we were committed to staying on the same show, which I am proud to say that we really did. They kind of spoiled [one personal storyline] in one of the promos – I hoped not – but you also have Lopez becoming a detective and suddenly ending up at the bottom of the food chain; this is going to be a runner for her this season. Also, we’ll be seeing Nolan’s mom this season, so I think it will be super exciting.
Everyone’s going to have personal stories, because I think that’s what people really love about the show. Like, they don’t really show up for police work as much as they do because they care about these characters, and then yes, there will be romance. There will be all kinds of things.
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