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The Rookie star Titus Makin almost didn't return for season 3

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

From Digital Spy

The Rookie star Titus Makin has revealed he almost didn't return for its third season.

The actor plays John Nolan's (Nathan Fillion) fellow rookie officer Jackson West in the ABC police drama and recently revealed that he contemplated leaving the show following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, which sparked worldwide Black Lives Matter protests last year.

Concerned The Rookie hadn't "addressed" the issue of his character being a Black cop, Makin explained that he was willing to be written out of the show if the subject wasn't tackled in season three.

Thankfully, showrunner Alexi Hawley "totally understood" Makin's concerns and "loaded" the new episodes with topics Makin had previously worried "wouldn't be touched".

Photo credit: Frazer Harrison - Getty Images
Photo credit: Frazer Harrison - Getty Images

Related: Lucifer season 6 will address Black Lives Matter movement

"A lot of people are finding a voice, and I found that for myself, where I was like, 'Oh wow, I've been complacent,'" Makin told Entertainment Weekly.

"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.

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

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

Related: The Rookie boss shuts down speculation of Tim and Lucy romance

He added: "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."

Elsewhere, Hawley recently shut down speculation of a Tim and Lucy romance.

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


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