Yahoo Lifestyle The Rookie Boss Talks New Season 7 Recruits, Nolan/Bailey Drama, ‘Big Emotions’ for [Spoiler] and #Chenford’s ‘Next Chapter’
After what for fans must have felt like an interminable break, ABC’s The Rookie is finally back on duty this Tuesday, Jan. 7, now airing at 10/9c.
When last we tuned in, slithery lawyer Monica Stevens went on the run after Blair the compromised LAPD shrink flipped on her, but not before setting up her assorted adversaries for slaughter. Nolan and Harper, accompanied by some of the Rookie: Feds agents, made tracks for Monaco to crash Monica’s meeting with a new ally, while the rest of Mid-Wilshire Division stayed behind to stop Monica’s foes from engaging in a mutually destructive bloodbath.
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Along the way, Chen engaged in a bit of derring-do to save Bradford’s life, while Nolan got Bailey thinking about starting their family via adoption. Bailey’s ex-husband Jason, though, had just broken out of prison with Oscar, thanks to Monica…..
The Rookie showrunner Alexi Hawley spoke with TVLine about the Season 7 “re-pilot” ahead, and big drama for all of your favorites.
TVLINE | Before we get started, I wanted to observe that the run-and-gun scenes in the first two episodes of Season 7 are especially kinetic. Was I picking up on any change in the way you filmed them?
I directed the first one and I wanted to “re-pilot” a bit on several fronts; one of them was I kind of wanted to go bigger, more action-y in places, so that’s what you definitely feel. And Bill Roe, our producer/director, directed the second one, and he’s amazing.
TVLINE | I felt myself “ducking” a bit more while sitting there on the couch, as the bullets started flying.
Yeah, we really leaned in, trying to go as big as you can go. And there are some Heat homages in there. I’m really happy with how those two came out.
TVLINE | How much time has passed since the events of the finale, and what sort of fallout is the team dealing with?
It’s been a few weeks, time enough for Nolan to heal up [from being shot in the butt] – though whether he’s healed up enough or not is a bit of a debate in Episode 1. He’s trying to get back on that horse more quickly than he should. But he’s feeling very pressured, because [Bailey’s escaped convict ex-husband] Jason is out there, as is Oscar, but Jason is more of the existential threat to Nolan’s family. We come in with that sense of, “We have to catch this guy before he comes for my wife and myself,” only to — spoiler! — get thwarted by the fact that they have bad information.
TVLINE | And the police corruption scandal, it will have a ripple effect this season?
It will. It felt important that we kept that alive, that we didn’t just drop the ball on that. That gave us a fun opportunity with Wesley coming in to be, as we call him, “the hall monitor.” The DA is is making sure that everybody’s flying right, only for Wesley to stumble across a tape, something in the course of listening to officers talking in therapy, that has a personal impact on him.
TVLINE | You’re bringing in two new rookies, played by Deric Augustine and Patrick Keleher. [Tru Valentino is not returning as Aaron Thorsen, as the result of a creative decision.] How do you decide what “flavor” of rookie to introduce at this point, seven seasons in? How did you arrive at Miles aka “Texas” and Seth/”The Virgin”?
I thought it was super interesting to bring on a rookie who isn’t a rookie [Miles], although he is a rookie in Los Angeles. What’s always shocking when you dig into policing in the United States is there are thousands of police departments and there is no uniformity to how they do things. We got into this a bit both in Season 1 — where Nolan killed a suspect in the line of duty and went through the aftermath of that, where most police departments do it the way we did it — and also in Season 3, in the aftermath of George Floyd, trying to figure out, “What’s the norm?” So to have a rookie who’s already done two years as a cop in Texas and see the difference between that police community and ethos, and what Tim Bradford brings….. That is not to say it’s perfect in any way shape or form, but Tim is a cop who takes doing things the right way very seriously.
And then with Patrick, who plays Seth, to bring in a “Boy Scout” who literally is—
TVLINE | He looks so young!
[Laughs] He’s so young, which is great, so to bring him in — his innocence and his eagerness, but also the sort of incompetence at times, falling down and all that kind of stuff — seemed really fun.
TVLINE | Coming out of the finale’s elevator scene, at this point does Tim still have work to do on himself?
He does, he does. We’ll definitely see a bit of that this season. At some point we have a scene where he’s at a veterans support group, so he’s still trying to do the work on himself. And look, the good news is that he understands what he did wrong. But in terms of the why, that is still something he’s trying to figure out, and sort of punishing himself for his own failures. The worst thing he could possibly think to do to himself was to break up with Lucy, and he’s going to figure that fully out, and then also deal with the repercussions of that. But you know, we really wanted to come into this season with positivity about Tim and Lucy. Obviously they did do a lot of work, Tim especially, at the end of last season. It did feel like they were coming back together in a way that was at least positive, so it was important to roll into this season going, “OK, we’re onto the next chapter — what does that look like?”
TVLINE | Without spoiling anything, there is a wager between them that opens the season that alleviates some of that tension, that awkwardness.
Yes, it allows us to play the banter, the chemistry. It allows us to lean into the competition between them that has been baked into them since the beginning, even when he was her boss, basically. (Watch a promo above.)
TVLINE | Which of the villains that were “in the wind” at the end of the finale will pose the most immediate threat?
Jason will ultimately pose the biggest threat in the first half of the season; he is sort of the existential threat because he is a threat to the family, Bailey especially. But we’ll also lean into some of the trauma of Bailey’s relationship with Jason that maybe she hasn’t processed yet, the abusive relationship she was in with this guy. That percolates up in the fear of the reunion, because part of the drama of the first half of the season is, “When is he going to show up?” And that sense of always being afraid is not healthy, obviously.
TVLINE | Can you give a sense of how soon you’ll have Jenna Dewan [who gave birth to her third child on June 14] back on camera as Bailey?
She shows up at the end of Episode 3.
TVLINE | And the adoption storyline is still in play for her and Nolan?
It does come back…. But without spoiling anything, I don’t know what else to say.
TVLINE | What are Celina’s last 90 days as a rookie going to look like?
There’ll be challenges, for sure. On her last day, when she wants nothing more than to just hide under her desk for 12 hours, we get it to a point where Nolan feels very much like he needs to go get in trouble a bit, go mix things up, go distract himself by pulling some felony warrants, and that’s the last thing she wants. But that’s where the drama is! Theres a lot of fun to be had.
TVLINE | The second episode, featuring “plain clothes day” [where Nolan rides with Juarez but can say or do nothing], is fantastic, and she is great in it.
Yeah, Liz (Lisseth Chavez) is amazing. It’s one of those joys where you cast these actors and you know they’re good, but then they show up and you’re like, “Ohhh, I had no how good they really are.” And that was definitely the case with Liz. She sparkles so much. She is a joy, and we can really play with that.
TVLINE | The Nolan/Juarez partnership has evolved and become so rich over the past couple of seasons.
Again, it goes back to us doing the heavy lifting when we first conceived of Celina as a character, and hopefully you’ll feel the same way about Miles and Seth as new rookies. Creating characters that are unexpected, that have depth…. I mean, she could not be less like Nolan, but at the same time they’re great complements for each other.
TVLINE | I said to you at finale time that Nyla kind of get off easy at the end of last season, didn’t have much drama. What’s ahead for her and James?
There is drama. There is drama ahead. This is a big season for Harper, and for James. Without spoiling anything, Harper is definitely going to get pushed to the limits, a bunch. There are some big emotions coming down the road.
TVLINE | Do you have a favorite episode in Season 7, one you’re especially excited for people to see?
We’re literally shooting the first day of our finale today [Dec. 20], so it’s weird for us. I know it all about this season, and it’s really strong. There are a lot of great dramatic episodes, there are some really funny episodes, romance is definitely at the forefront in some places…. I feel like we strive to make every season of this show different, and the “re-pilot” of it all was me going, “OK, how do we shake things up a bit?” There are a lot of strong episodes, I don’t want to pick a favorite!
Want scoop on The Rookie, or for any other TV show ? Shoot an email to InsideLine@tvline.com, and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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