If anyone else is having a nullptr on the searchview variable, I found out that the item setup is a tiny bit different:
old:
android:showAsAction="ifRoom"
android:actionViewClass="android.widget.SearchView"
new:
app:showAsAction="ifRoom|collapseActionView"
app:actionViewClass="androidx.appcompat.widget.SearchView"
pre-android x:
app:showAsAction="ifRoom|collapseActionView"
app:actionViewClass="android.support.v7.widget.SearchView"
For more information, it's updated documentation is located here.