New Tacoma TV Drama Pilot Teases ‘A Little Bit of Meth Labs in the Woods’

This new TV crime drama looks like it's going to be good. It's called The Rookie: North and is slated to star Jay Ellis and Chris Sullivan. Let's see what we can find out about this juicy gossip. It's exciting for us residents when a TV show or movie is set in Washington State!

Hollywood Meets the Streets of Tacoma, WA

Parade magazine had the scoop I was looking for: The Rookie: North is a spinoff of the other TV show named The Rookie --the one you can watch on Hulu (and stars Nathan Fillion).

via GIPHY

The Rookie: North centers around a new officer (played by Jay Ellis) who joins the Tacoma Police Department.

You might remember Jay from the HBO hit series Insecure. He was also spotted in Leavenworth filming a movie for Amazon a few years back.

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It's Just a TV Pilot for Now

The deal was announced in November 2025 and filming is about to start soon in Vancouver. Why they aren't doing it * in * Tacoma beats me. Actually, I do know why, because it's cheaper to film over there. TV shows and movies do it all the time. Booooo!

It would be so much cooler if they would start filming stuff over HERE in Washington, but that's another story for another day.

Jay's friends wished him much success and congratulations in his announcement post on Instagram, including Robin Thede, Kev on Stage, Essence Watkins, and a couple of his former Insecure cast members Yvonne Orji (Pop the Balloon) and Natasha Rothwell (The White Lotus)

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A post shared by Jay Ellis (@jayrellis)