The Rookie star Eric Winter breaks down the gritty details surrounding a fan-favorite couple’s heartbreaking split.
Speaking to TV Insider, Winter discussed the season defining breakup between his character, Sergeant Tim Bradford, and Melissa O’Neil’s Officer Lucy Chen. “They never broke up because they stopped loving each other. They broke up because Tim didn’t feel he was good enough for her,” Winter explained. “And I think that’s what the fans have to understand.”
“As a little time has passed, the wound is still there, but it’s healing. There’s a scab for Lucy. She’s trying to make amends with the situation the best she can,” Winter added. “Tim and Lucy find themselves in a very tricky situation…a moment. And again, like I said, these two have never stopped caring about each other. So you put two people in a compromising, weird position, and feelings come out. Maybe a little bit of their thoughts come out…I can tease that you’re going to get a moment where they have to check themselves.”
The Rookie Continues Its Impressive Run on ABC
Created by showrunner and executive producer Alexi Hawley, The Rookie premiered on ABC in 2018 and quickly established itself as a fan-favorite police procedural. The Rookie follows Nathan Fillion’s John Nolan, a former contractor who decides to make a place for himself in the Los Angeles Police Department decidedly late in life compared to his fellow officers. Apart from Fillion, Winters, and O’Neil, The Rookie’s star-studded ensemble cast includes Alyssa Diaz as LAPD Detective Angela Lopez, RIchard T. Jones as Sergeant Wade Grey, and Shawn Ashmore as defense attorney Wesley Evers.
The hotly-anticipated seventh season of The Rookie began on January 7, picking up just a few weeks after the previous season left off. The Rookie Season Six closed out with the explosive return of Steve Kazee as Jason Wyler, the psychologically abusive ex-husband of Jenna Dewan’s Bailey Nune. Prior to the Season 7 premiere, Hawley gave fans a sense of what to expect going in, noting that the season kicks off “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.”
