John Nolan star Nathan Fillion took to social media to praise his friend who starred alongside him on the recent episode of The Rookie.

ABC’s beloved crime drama The Rookie returned to screen this week with a surprise appearance from Officer Tim Bradford’s (played by Eric Winter) ex-wife this week.

Isabel Bradford (Mircea Monroe) needed the team’s help to save her from a criminal from her past as an undercover cop.

While fans feared her return would disrupt Tim’s budding romance with Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil), Isabel did the opposite as she pleased for help from the Teska family.

As an undercover cop, she looked after her contact Dara (Alison Thornton) but after nine years, Dara got back in touch and was fearing for her life.

As Tim agreed to help Isabel, he located her father Frank Teska (Michael Rooker) who had no clue she was missing.

Before the episode premiered, Fillion took to Instagram to introduce his 1.3m followers to Michael Rooker.

The actor posted two behind-the-scenes selfies of himself posed alongside Rooker with a touching tribute in the caption.

Fillion wrote: “This is Michael Rooker. I first worked with him in 2006. He holds the record of ‘Actor I’ve worked with the most’.

“He’s brilliant, kind, talented, and can bench press your house.”

Praising his co-star, Fillion added: ”He’s also an excellent friend, and he’s on @therookieabc tonight. Thank you, Rooker. For bringing more Rooker into my life.”

Fans also took to the comments with appreciation and anticipation for Rooker’s appearance on the show.

As @ZombieMistress1313 wrote: “Love Rooker! Such a fantastic guy to meet. Hilarious panels every time he’s been to FanX in SLC.”

@lysioiszeus added: “He is both brilliant and ridiculous.”

A third viewer @demetrapolytarides commented: “Tonight’s episode was great like always. He played his character very well.

@Verdevalleyjackie praised: “Always a pleasure watching Michael Rooker, a true professional and heck of a talented actor.”

While @alicat303 made reference to his previous portrayal and joked: “I mean he is Mary Poppins so that explains a lot.”

Rooker also commented on Fillion’s post and wrote: “I had the most fun of any TV shows that I’ve done doing Nathan’s show the Rookie…….peace&Love.” (sic)