The Rookie Season 6 Finale: Melissa O’Neil and Eric Winter Discuss the Future of ‘Chenford’
It might not be so smooth for the former lovebirds
Melissa O’Neil and Eric Winter always knew that fans of “Chenford” — the beloved relationship between their characters, Lucy Chen and Tim Bradford — would not be pleased about Bradford’s decision to break things off suddenly with Chen in the midseason finale of The Rookie. But in retrospect, the actors both underestimated just how upset their fans would become and just how long they would voice their discontentment on social media.
“I think it just speaks to the passion of this fandom and what they feel they’ve earned, and the stake they’ve put into the development of this relationship,” Winter tells TV Guide in a joint interview with O’Neil. “There are so many happy relationships on our show, and that’s just not a perfect reflection of life. I feel like we are the one relationship where there is enough baggage and trauma that led into this relationship that would warrant it not to be so smooth.”
Since splitting up, Chen and Bradford have woven in and out of each other’s lives, but Tuesday’s season finale reaffirms that these two partners-in-fighting-crime work better together than apart. After Lucy learns during her latest undercover stint that criminal lawyer Monica Stevens (Bridget Regan) has ordered a hit on a local laundromat where a gang is waiting to collect $2 million in exchange for her life, the LAPD camp out at the venue and get into a shootout with the hit men and other gang members.
During the confrontation, Bradford jumps into the back of a pickup truck that one of the hit men uses to get away from the crime scene, and the two wrestle in the front seat. Following in close pursuit, Chen and Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) get close enough to the pickup truck for Chen to jump into the trunk herself. From there, she is able to physically restrain the driver enough for Bradford to hit the brakes and stop the car. On their way out of the station together, Tim thanks Lucy for saving his life and declares that he will spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to her in whatever small doses she will allow. It’s certainly a step forward for the exes on their path to reconciliation.
Below, O’Neil and Winter discuss the aftermath of the “Chenford” break-up, what they hope Chen and Bradford will be able to learn from their time apart, and what it would take for their characters to find their way back to each other romantically.
What have you both made of the discourse surrounding the controversial “Chenford” breakup? And why did you think a breakup was necessary to further complicate and develop their relationship?
Eric Winter: I learned that Lucy’s clearly their favorite over Bradford because they turned their back on me pretty quick. I’m on my heels defending the breakup! [O’Neil laughs.] I think it just speaks to the passion of this fandom and what they feel they’ve earned, and the stake they’ve put into the development of this relationship. I was very surprised how big and how fast it escalated. I always felt that there are so many happy relationships on our show, and that’s just not a perfect reflection of life. I feel like we are the one relationship where there is enough baggage and trauma that led into this relationship that would warrant it not to be so smooth.
Melissa O’Neil: I don’t even know what the right word is to characterize what happened because it’s a very insular space, so it feels really extreme for the people who are talking about it. But I think in the grand scheme of things, I’m like, “Are people really that upset?” I was really shocked to see how enduring that upset [feeling] lasted. I posted about one of [the reactions] on my TikTok. I was like, “Oh my gosh, this girl’s really upset,” and that kind of broke my heart.
But I think it’s really exciting that we did this with these characters, and it’s a real credit to [showrunner] Alexi [Hawley] for sticking to it, even though they are a fan-favorite couple. I’m happy that we got to explore it in that way because — and I’ve said this before — the foundational friendship that Eric and I have lays the space for there to be vulnerability to really go to those places in a way that feels honest. So I’m grateful that we have the opportunity to explore that. It’s been real fun as an actor, and hopefully, they’re not too mad at us for going there.
Eric, I think it had something to do with the fact that Melissa told me that you were the one who was pushing for this break-up.
O’Neil: That was an accident! [Laughs.]
Winter: She said that, and I was like, “What?! You threw me under the bus!”
O’Neil: He texted me [after our interview came out]. He’s like, “How could you say that?” I was like, “I don’t know.” It was a mistake. [Laughs.]
Winter: It’s not that I pushed saying that it had to go [that way]. I just was like, “There’s a lot of room to explore here in a real relationship, in an environment where people could relate.” Since their entire working relationship [developed] into a friendship, it’s been challenge after challenge after challenge. Tim has a lot of baggage, and I didn’t know how this would go down, but I just thought there was a way to explore a lot of real-life relationships in that sense. It’s not always perfect on TV.
How do you hope this separation will make Chen and Bradford stronger in the long run? What do you hope they each learn from their time apart?
Winter: Lucy will probably realize how great Tim is.
O’Neil: She already knew! What are you talking about? [Laughs.]
Winter: He’s even better. [Laughs.] I think Tim is going to learn a lot about himself and learn to really appreciate what Lucy has done to lift him up and get his confidence back as a person. He has this façade of confidence that he puts out there in his career all the time. But I think in his relationship world, it’s just been problem after problem after problem, and I think it goes back to his childhood. She’s the one that has been trying to support him, like, “You’re better than that. You’re good.” She’s really his cheerleader in a sense, and I think he’s completely missed that.
O’Neil: I was just thinking about where that relationship started — and we talked about this a lot before they became a couple. Once you cross that threshold, you can’t go back. There is such a sweetness to that dynamic before they became a couple, and that time is so precious. There was a part of me that was like, “Gosh, I wish there was a world where we could reclaim some of that.” I don’t think that it’s entirely possible because even that bantering nature, once they were a couple, had transformed into something different. Selfishly, I really enjoyed watching and doing those types of scenes. So there is a part of my heart that’s like, I hope that as they move the relationship forward into the space where it’s kind of mended a little bit, maybe we can access some of that interpersonal dynamic again in a different way.
