The Rookie announces Bones' Emily Deschanel will appear opposite Nathan Fillion

Photo credit: Eric McCandless - ABC
Photo credit: Eric McCandless - ABC

The Rookie has signed up Bones alum Emily Deschanel to appear in the next season 3 episode.

The ABC police procedural confirmed in a teaser for its May 2 episode over the weekend that the actress will play John Nolan's (Nathan Fillion) ex-wife Sarah.

The latter is due to show up after the events of last weekend's episode, where her and John's son Henry mysteriously collapsed and was rushed to hospital.

Photo credit: David Livingston - Getty Images
Photo credit: David Livingston - Getty Images

Related: The Rookie boss explains Nolan twist in season 3 premiere

The former couple's history has been explored before, with The Rookie's original pilot confirming that Sarah fell pregnant with Henry while she and John were in college, the pair later agreeing to divorce when their child went to college.

Deschanel is perhaps best known for playing Temperance Brennan in Bones, which ran between 2005 and 2017.

As well as her appearance, The Rookie has been reuniting Fillion with fellow Castle stars including Toks Olagundoye, Seamus Dever, Jon Huertas, Annie Wersching and Frances Fisher.

Photo credit: Eric McCandless - ABC
Photo credit: Eric McCandless - ABC

Meanwhile, star Titus Makin revealed earlier this year that he contemplated leaving The Rookie if the series didn't address the issue of his character being a Black cop in season 3.

"I woke up one morning and I was watching the news, and I was like, 'I can't do this. I can't go play a cop on a show and not talk about the fact that I'm a Black cop.' My character hadn't addressed any of that," he said.

"I had that conversation with Alexi, our showrunner, and he was extremely gracious and he totally understood everything I was saying.

Photo credit: ABC - YouTube
Photo credit: ABC - YouTube

"I did come to that point where I was like, 'If you want to write me out, I politely receive that. I would rather be written out than ignore the reality and not be able to tell the story.'"

He continued: "I'm extremely grateful that ABC and The Rookie has given us a platform and have been so willing to tell these tricky stories.

"It's something that they very well could have ignored, but they don't want too. They've been great about like, 'Let's go for it. Let's create the conversations. Let's open up the floor.' I'm just thankful to be a part of the show that's willing to do that."

The Rookie airs on ABC in the US, and airs on Sky Witness in the UK. It can also be streamed on NOW.


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