Television crossovers are all the rage these days. We recently had the Abbott Elementary and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia crossover. Not to mention all those Chicago Fire/Chicago P.D./Chicago Med crossovers. Via Variety, we learned there’s another TV crossover episode on its way. And it was one that probably no one saw coming. The ABC Nathan Fillion-starring procedural The Rookie aired an episode “prominently” featuring the cast of the competition series Game Changer from the indie comedy platform Dropout, formerly CollegeHumor. The crossover episode hit ABC on March 2 with the appropriate title “Fun and Games.” And Game Changer host Sam Reich recently answered questions on how this unusual crossover ever came about:
Sam Reich acknowledges the polarizing fan response to this crossover online. In the interview, he said, “I’ve heard, obviously, the mixed feedback. I respect the right of the folks who feel that way. You have the right to feel that way. You have the right to light me up on social media. We’re always listening to feedback, and feedback will motivate and influence our future decision-making at the company. In the meanwhile, I just hope some of you watch it, because I think we were pretty funny.”
Here’s the official synopsis for The Rookie/Game Changer crossover episode “Fun and Games” from ABC:
Harper and Miles feel the weight of their recent mistakes, while Harper is tasked with training Miles. Nolan and Celina are dispatched to a robbery call at the Dropout TV Studios where Nolan encounters a familiar face.
This episode of The Rookie featured Dropout CEO and Game Changer host Sam Reich, along with other Dropout collaborators Vic Michaelis, Jacob Wysocki, Zac Oyama, and Anna Garcia. They appeared alongside The Rookie’s regular cast members, Nathan Fillion, Mekia Cox, Lisseth Chavez, and Deric Augustine. The episode was partially shot at Dropout’s studios in Los Angeles. As of today, this special crossover episode of The Rookie is on Hulu.
The Rookie is currently in its eighth season on ABC. It has one spin-off on the air already, The Rookie: Feds, with another series, The Rookie: North, in development. And it also exists in the MCU, as Wonder Man showed us. Nathan Fillion has a long history with this network, as The Rookie followed up another ABC series, Castle, which also ran on the network for eight seasons, from 2009-2016. Of course, he’ll always be Captain Mal Reynolds to us first, a show that only lasted one season.
Originally published February 23, 2026.