When The Rookie returns with season 8, John Nolan and his squad will be adding one more member to their crew, and they’ll likely be more hated than Seth Ridley ever was. Seth, played by Patrick Keleher, made his first appearance in season 7 as Lucy Chen’s new (and first) rookie. Let’s just say that things didn’t exactly go as planned.
Seth was naive and a mess-up, but other than that, he seemed decent. That changed when Lucy caught Seth in his first lie. He was a compulsive liar, resulting in his firing when he claimed his cancer had returned. Seth came back, thanks to a lawsuit, but left the LAPD toward the end of The Rookie season 7 when he lost his leg.
Monica Will Be Working With The LAPD In The Rookie Season 8
The Rookie Villain Is Turning Over A New Leaf
While Seth’s character in The Rookie season 7 grew irritating, something’s telling us that viewers will be much more frustrated when Monica Stevens joins the team. During an interview with Collider, Nathan Fillion and showrunner Alexi Hawley discussed what’s to come for Monica in season 8. They teased:
Hawley: I’m very excited about that. Part of the joy of figuring out some of our villains is how to keep them fresh and stuff like that. So, Monica showing up with an immunity deal was a great button to the end of the season. I think that, ultimately, it’s going to generate some great stories for us going forward, like our trip to Prague, because ultimately, part of her immunity deal is helping us catch a few bad guys. So now she becomes part of the team. It’s a weird thing.
Fillion: The one you love to hate.
Hawley: Ultimately, it sort of is putting the bow on the story about the bus hijack in episode 11. Because that’s where she first showed up again, and there was something about an ID card being stolen. That bus is the real reason for that hijacking. So we sort of left that hanging in that episode. Then that ultimately is how she got the information to blackmail and leverage national security. I was happy that we could tie that off. Ultimately, this deal that she’s made has an active part of it, which is you now have to help the FBI, and ultimately an LAPD-FBI task force, in bringing in some bad guys.
As many will recall, The Rookie season 7 finale ended with Monica’s surprise return. The others learned that she had secured an immunity deal for herself with the United States government, thanks to the highly sensitive information that Monica required that no one wanted to be made public. So, heading into season 8, Monica’s leverage has resulted in her joining Nolan’s team.
The Rookie villain has been around since season 5, and it seems like she is the cockroach that no one can catch, let alone kill. As such, her “helping” the LAPD in season 8 will be worse than Seth joining the force in season 7. Seth’s record is nothing compared to hers, and Monica is much smarter and more cunning.
Will Monica’s Cooperation In The Rookie Season 8 Result In Her Full Redemption?
Monica Turning Fully Good Is Unlikely
Monica’s story in The Rookie season 8 probably won’t result in her becoming a hero. If anything, she could turn into an anti-hero, but even that’s reaching, given everything we know about Monica and her deceitful ways. It simply wouldn’t make much sense for Bridget Regan’s character to do a complete 180 in the upcoming episodes.
Of course, anything is possible. Monica could have a thoughtful, successful character redemption arc in the ABC police procedural series. However, it would take a lot of time to accomplish this feat. It’s much more likely that Monica will betray Nolan and co. in The Rookie season 8.
ABC is holding The Rookie season 8 for midseason, meaning it won’t premiere until sometime in early 2026 (likely in January, based on season 7’s release date).
