The Rookie Season 7, Episode 16, “The Return,” saw the return of a familiar and despicable character in Seth Ridley (Patrick Keleher). After being dismissed from the unit due to his mounting lies, most notably faking his cancer relapse, Ridley successfully sued the city, winning his return to the Mid-Wilshire training program. However, with his reputation as a pathological liar no longer hidden from the team, Ridley was always going to have it tough upon his return. However, no one could have predicted how quickly things would turn tragic for the latest rookie in this week’s episode of the cop procedural. By the episode’s end, Ridley’s future in law enforcement hangs by a thread, but despite the unfortunate turn of events, Keleher remains optimistic that this might not be the end of the road for his character.
Upon his return to the precinct, things were a bit different for Seth, whose TO switched from Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) to John Nolan (Nathan Fillion). The two spend much of Episode 16 together, culminating in an uncharacteristically heroic act from Seth, who saves Nolan during a brutal shootout, taking a bullet to his leg. In a shocking final reveal, the injury results in his leg being amputated below the knees. Discussing the episode during his latest Screen Rant interview, Keleher reveals that Seth comes back with redemption and honesty on his mind, but he finds that bad habits die hard:
“He wants to be a good cop. That’s why he started being a cop in the first place. He wants to make a difference. But God, lying is just deep in his roots, and I wonder if we’ll ever go into Seth’s past, if we’ll ever see him as a child. What happened to him? So I think he’s always trying to do the right thing, but it just gets mixed up.”
Is This the End of Seth Ridley’s Career as a Cop?
With Seth now an amputee by the end of Episode 16, the big question is whether this tragic turn marks the end of his career. When asked how surprising it was for Seth to risk his life to save Nolan, Keleher offered a hint about what the moment could mean for the rookie’s future:
“Yeah. It’s a good thing that he saved Nolan, right? But his leg is gone. I remember reading that, and I was like, ‘God.’ I have no idea. I still don’t know what that means for Seth to be legless. What does that mean as a cop with the LAPD? I remember when I came to set one day, I was talking to one of our ex-LAPD officers on set. And he’s like, ‘Yeah, man. You lose a leg, you’re out.’ But you never know. You never know what’ll happen.”
Seth’s arc in the episode wraps with Nolan offering some encouraging words at his hospital bedside, assuring him that his career may not be over despite the devastating injury. Though there’s no knowing yet how the show will treat Seth’s character going forward, Keleher remained positive. “The whole season, it’s always negative. He’s always lying,” he said. “But that’s one of the only scenes where he really does the right thing with Tamara, and he finally tells the truth about the cancer. We never know. And Tamara’s the only one who he actually tells the truth to. I think that it left on a very positive note. It might shoot us back up, so we’ll see.”
As for whether Seth will appear in any of the few remaining episodes of The Rookie Season 7, Keleher was clear: “Yeah. I am done in Season 7,” adding that he has “no idea” if the ending sets Seth up for a redemptive arc.
