“The Rookie and Will Trent are two of the cornerstones of our schedule,” Craig Erwich, president, Disney Television Group, told TVLine when explaining the decision to hold both for midseason. “The Rookie is an amazing story, where at this point in its life cycle [six seasons in] it continues to grow. We see not just the current season but past seasons drive a tremendous amount of viewing on Hulu.

“And Will Trent is probably one of the bigger breakout dramas of the last two years,” Erwich continued. “It felt like the best way to platform those shows for success was to launch them in January, when we have this huge promotional platform in New Years Rockin’ Eve as well as college sports and Christmas programming, and also to give these shows an uninterrupted run.

“They’re going to go straight through,” with no breaks/reruns, Erwich reiterated, “and that kind of momentum of original episodes week-in and week-out is just a very powerful engine for both of these shows.”