The Rookie’s dedicated fans have been given a fascinating tease of how Monica Stevens will affect season 8. As fans wait for the premiere of The Rookie season 8, they can theorize about how Monica might change as she is poised to take the show in new directions.
While speaking to Collider, The Rookie star Nathan Fillion and showrunner Alexi Hawley discussed the hit drama’s upcoming eighth season. On top of addressing how season 8 will affect Chenford, the duo also gave a glimpse into Monica’s role in the show’s upcoming storylines.
During their interview, Fillion and Hawley responded to a question about Monica’s stunning season 7 finale return. While Fillion solely discussed the character’s villainous ways, Hawley gave some tantalizing teases of how Monica would take season 8 in new directions. Check out their comments below:
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.
What Monica’s Return Means For The Rookie’s Future
During The Rookie season 8, fans of the show can expect that the character Monica Stevens will have a major role. While it has already been confirmed that Monica will be involved when The Rookie season 8 takes the show to Prague, it now seems clear that she won’t disappear after that.
Instead of solely showing up to pay off The Rookie season 7’s cliffhanger, it has now been confirmed that Monica’s return will inspire several storylines.
Most notably, Hawley explained that Monica’s return will bring back the story that began during The Rookie, season 7, Episode 11, “Speed.” That means that fans will get to find out why Monica was the puppet master behind a bus hijacking that led to a specific ID card being stolen.
Our Take On Monica Stevens’ The Rookie Future
Even though some fans have deemed Monica Stevens to be one of The Rookie’s most infuriating characters in past seasons, her new role has lots of potential. Monica becoming a bigger part of The Rookie season 8 can introduce a slew of interesting storylines and interpersonal drama.
From a narrative perspective, Monica’s bigger role could pay off several dangling plot threads. Since she has worked with many of The Rookie’s biggest villains since her season 5 debut, her new role with the LAPD and FBI should bring some of them back to the forefront.
More importantly, it will be intriguing to see how she will affect her new teammates. Since virtually every The Rookie character has an extremely complicated relationship with Monica, being forced to work with her is sure to create a lot of strong emotions.
