Niecy Nash-Betts Hopes ‘The Rookie: Feds’ Will Be Renewed: ‘I’m Happy for Little Black and Brown Girls to See Something That They Can Aspire to Be’

variety.com:

Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior Correspondent “The Rookie: Feds” remains on the bubble, as one of two shows at ABC awaiting news regarding a renewal — and its star, Niecy Nash-Betts, is crossing her fingers for a second season.

Nash-Betts has had an in-demand year, starring in Netflix’s “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” and hosting Fox’s gameshow “Don’t Forget the Lyrics,” in addition to headlining “The Rookie: Feds.” And she’s hoping to keep her busy schedule going, continuing to play her character, Simone Clark, on the ABC police procedural. “I love my job so much, I love the people that I work with, and I love the fact that I get to work with my better half over there,” Nash-Betts says of her wife, musician Jessica Betts, who plays her love interest on “The Rookie: Feds.” Speaking to Variety for her special Emmys Edition cover story about “Dahmer,” Nash-Betts says that her “The Rookie: Feds” character means a lot to her, but, more importantly, she means a lot to audiences watching. “What I love about that particular character is that I have not seen her in on mainstream television,” Nash-Betts says of her character Simone Clark, a Black woman who pursued her dream of joining the FBI at the age of 48, after raising her children. “I’m happy for little Black and brown girls to see something that they can aspire to be,” Nash-Betts adds. “Less than 1% of Black women make up the FBI.

She’s a Black woman over 40 in the FBI. She’s not married. She’s an equal-opportunity dater, if you know what I mean. Like, who is this unicorn?

If she were a real person, she would definitely be my homegirl. She’s in her second act and she is making the best of it.”  “The Rookie: Feds” is the only hourlong broadcast series on ABC to