He’s not the only threat the Mid-Wilshire crew has to worry about now that Monica has an immunity deal with the FBI. Yet, some viewers may have found themselves most surprised by Chenford’s open ending. Season 7 has been slowly building towards their romantic reconciliation, with Tim asking Lucy to move in with him in “The Good, The Bad, and The Oscar.” But that pesky night shift schedule rears its head when Tim realizes that she’s fallen asleep in the middle of his speech. So close, yet so far!
After screening the finale, I caught up with showrunner Alexi Hawley about those major villain returns, Tim and Lucy’s final scene, and what to expect when The Rookie returns for season 8.
Monica’s Immunity Will Be A Source Of Frustration In Season 8
“It’s enraging and many other things to our cops who have been trying to get her a for a full season now.”
ScreenRant: Monica has an immunity deal. Is she an immediate danger to anyone in the LAPD?
Alexi Hawley: I don’t know about that necessarily. I do think that it’s enraging and many other things to our cops who have been trying to get her for a full season now, and the fact that she’s now untouchable for her past crimes is really incredibly frustrating.
Obviously, Bridget owned that scene and that walk away and all that kind of stuff was really great. I think heading into season eight, it’s going to be the frustration of the fact that she got away with it, and also, potentially, what are the aspects of the immunity deal that could give us story to tell, which I think is partly what we’re trying to figure out right now in the room.
Is there more to explore about the top-secret information Monica gained access to, or is it just meant to be the catalyst for her return?
Alexi Hawley: That was a callback to the “Speed” episode. That access card that was stolen from the guy’s wallet on the bus is ultimately how she gained access to the Intelligence Community’s databases and got that information. I’m not sure how much more we are going to get out of that, but I don’t know yet in season 8.
Tim And Lucy Have Officially Turned A Corner
“You leave that episode knowing where it’s going to go. I think you feel very positive about it.”
I know fans were expecting Tim and Lucy to get back together in the finale. Why did you decide to leave it where you did?
Alexi Hawley: Ultimately, you leave that episode knowing where it’s going to go. I think you feel very positive about it. Obviously, Tim has done the work. Lucy and Tim still need to talk about it. One of the things that I think is clearly established during the course of our show is that healthy communication is not always their strong suit, but we’ve turned a corner. We’re heading in a good direction. It just made me laugh. Let’s put it that way. But we’re heading in a good direction.
Should we expect more of the will they/won’t they in season 8, or will we get a definitive answer to Tim’s question?
Alexi Hawley: We’re heading in a really good direction for fans of Chenford. This season has taken them on a journey that we all felt, on the show and in the room, was important to both deal with the real repercussions of what Tim did and the very real pain that he caused, including to himself, and trying to figure out why he did what he did and having Lucy have to forgive him.
That didn’t feel like a “three episodes and everything’s good again” kind of story. But I feel like now that that journey has been taken that we’re at the end of that journey. I think that moment at the end is very sweet. We’re not teasing anybody. We’re heading in a good direction.
Now that Lucy is a sergeant, I’m curious what this means for undercover work. Is that officially in the rear view, or could she do more in the future?
Alexi Hawley: She could still do it for sure. That door’s not closed to her. Going undercover as a job for long-term assignments, I don’t think we’re there going in season 8, but I do think that we will probably see her go undercover in season 8. Again, we just need to come up with a different way to do it.
We’ve told multiple undercover stories, both with her and Harper and all that kind of stuff, and it’s easy to fall into the same pattern of, “Is she going to get caught? Is she not?” And so for us, it’s, “Where’s the fresh drama and the fresh way to tell the story?” So that’s what we’re kicking around now in the room.
The Season 7 Finale Isn’t The Last We’ve Seen Of Oscar
“What is the next chapter of Oscar’s journey in season 8, and where does it go?”
Oscar has escaped once again. What inspired you to keep that villain at large in The Rookie universe?
Alexi Hawley: Matthew is so brilliant, and it’s one of those cases that we’ve been lucky to have multiple times across the series. You write a character that, in theory, is meant to be a one-off, and then you cast an actor who comes in and is amazing, and you’re like, “I want to see them again.”
And so Oscar has always been a joy and a nemesis and super fun, but also really dangerous. I always love when we can bring him back. I don’t think we can keep him out there forever, just sort of not getting caught. So what is the next chapter of Oscar’s journey in season 8, and where does it go? I don’t know yet, but we’ll definitely see him again.
Miles was set up by the Eastern Front during one of the worst first dates in history. They arrest everyone there, but could there be others?
Alexi Hawley: There could be. I don’t know. I haven’t thought too much about that. Yeah, I don’t have an answer on that one yet. Ultimately, that was a fun way to deal with the fallout from, obviously, the Del Monte story and the blackmail that they tried to exert on him.
And, also, the very real Tim’s point of view that you don’t put down that you’re a cop on those dating profiles because people have strong opinions about police officers. It just felt like a really nice one-two. I don’t have a thought about if it needs to go farther than that. I think we have plenty of bad operators in Los Angeles in our show, but I don’t know. We’ll see.
