Did Lucy hear what Tim had to say?
Eric Winter knows that fans of “Chenford,” the beloved relationship between his Tim Bradford and Melissa O’Neil’s Lucy Chen, were likely cursing at their television after the final credits rolled on the Season 7 finale of The Rookie.
After a season of casual hook-ups complicated by the continued heartache of a messy (and controversial) break-up, the former lovebirds were seemingly on track to get back together after getting past a major professional roadblock.
In the penultimate episode of the ABC police procedural, Lucy, who decided to refocus her attention on advancing her career after Tim had abruptly broken up with her in the middle of last season, successfully passed the sergeant’s exam with flying colors. After beginning the show as rookie and training officer, respectively, Chen and Bradford were now both equals at the LAPD. But wanting to put Lucy’s promotion into action almost immediately, Lt. Wade Grey (Richard T. Jones) assigned Lucy to the dreaded night shift, where she was forced to oversee the so-called “Dream Team,” a group of officers who would spend most shifts sleeping in their parked cruisers.
Working opposite shifts was admittedly a change of pace for both Lucy and Tim, who would often pass each other at the station like ships passing in the night. Tim had spent most of the season trying to let Lucy dictate how she would like their relationship to evolve after their break-up. But after his close friend, Det. Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz), urged him to remind Lucy that he still envisions a future with her, Tim decided to take matters into his own hands, surprising Lucy one morning in her own kitchen with a spread of her favorite comfort foods. As Lucy kicked her feet up on her couch after a long shift, Tim began to gently force the issue on everyone’s lips — but with an added twist.
“I know the damage I did, and after a lot of therapy, I know why I did it. Look, I’ve been doing the work. I have. I’ve been doing the work to fix what’s been broken inside me,” Tim tells Lucy in a heartfelt speech. “So you can trust me when I tell you: Lucy, I will never hurt you like that again. If we’re going to get back together, I think we should take the next step — and you should move in with me, so we can give us … a real shot.” (Lucy fell asleep at some point during that monologue, but Tim kisses her head and clearly says the conversation is “to be continued.”)
Speaking with TV Guide at the Disney upfront blue carpet on Tuesday afternoon, just hours before the finale hit the airwaves, Winter opened up about Tim’s decision to initiate the conversation that viewers have been waiting for these two characters to have all-season-long, even if that heart-to-heart will be delayed to Season 8.
“She’s a sergeant now, there’s no line of command [issue], and I think Tim has realized over the season what he gave up and that he’s trying to be a better person, and feels like they lost out on and missed a lot of time together,” Winter explained. “So I think this is his way of trying to speed things [up], move things along in a faster way, to get to know each other like that and see how compatible they really are.”
Much like the fans, the actors had also been waiting for a moment which could represent a significant step forward for the exes, who have only had eyes for each other since their split. “I was shocked,” Winter said of his reaction to reading that final “Chenford” scene. “And then I saw she was asleep, I thought it was really clever. It was fun. It’s a great way to build more of it next season and not know where it’s going to go.”
It’s not entirely clear, judging from the finale, how much of Tim’s speech Lucy actually hears before falling asleep, but Winter is unsure about how Lucy will react to the news that Tim wants to not only get back together but move in together. “I don’t know if she’ll find out,” Winter said. “I’m not sure Tim’s going to tell her. I don’t think Tim’s going to tell her that he said it. I think we’re going to wonder when he’s going to say it again. That’s my guess.”
In a separate interview with TV Guide timed to the Season 7 finale, creator and showrunner Alexi Hawley opened up about his decision to keep “Chenford” apart for the entire season, much to the disappointment of some fans.
“The damage done was fairly seismic,” Hawley said. “It felt like there needed to be a real journey for them to get back [together] — both him needing to do the work to understand why he blew up the best thing that ever happened to him, [which was] to punish himself, and her dealing with the pain of that [break-up], and then also wanting to focus on her career moving forward and ultimately trusting him again. So it felt like we needed to earn that. We had moments along the way where they moved towards each other, and then they moved away a little bit. I do think that having conversations is not necessarily their strong point as a couple.”
Despite that personal cliffhanger, Hawley confirms that Chen and Bradford will get back together next season, although the exact timeline of their reunion remains an open question. “I think ultimately, we’re not trying to set up some sort of [situation where] he had a shot and he missed it, and now it’s all going to be doom and gloom,” he explained. “The things that amuse me don’t necessarily amuse everybody, but it felt organic [to have Lucy fall asleep] given how exhausted she was [after a night shift]. I do think that they’ve been working their way back to each other. They’ve definitely turned a corner, and the professional obstacles are out of the way. I think they still need to have the talk, the conversation. I don’t want to rob them of that, but I think we’re almost there.”
All seven seasons of The Rookie are now streaming on Hulu. The show will return for Season 8 in 2026.
