O’Neil talks about the series longevity, the intense fan interest around the ‘Chenford’ romance and her experiences with the L.A. wildfires
There is apparently a growing body of literature in the dark corners of the Internet dedicated to the romance between officers Lucy Chen and Tim Bradford.
Melissa O’Neil, who has played Chen on the ABC/CTV hit police procedural The Rookie for seven seasons, has never looked for it. But the Calgary-born actress has heard that fan fiction is being created that imagines various scenarios around her character’s relationship with her former trainer, Tim Bradford (Eric Winter). In general, the love life of Chen and Bradford – which devotees have dubbed Chenford – has become an overriding obsession for some bloggers, episode recappers and fans. There are X (Twitter) accounts dedicated to it and heated discussions on Reddit. Last year, tvinsider.com offered a thorough timeline of the couple’s relationship starting from the first episode of the first season.
Before Season 7 began earlier this month, there was great concern over the future of Chenford after Bradford reluctantly ended the relationship in Season 6. “Should Chenford fans be worried?” asked Bleeding Cool News earlier this week in a sneak peek of the season’s third episode. “The Rookie Bombshell That Just Shattered Chenford’s Chances of *Ever* Getting Back Together” fretted soaps.com.
In a Zoom interview from her home in Los Angeles, O’Neil admits that everyone involved in the series – and particularly the two actors who play Chen and Bradford – were taken aback by the intense interest in the relationship. It was a long-gestating romance that finally took hold in Season 4 with the couple’s first kiss after many will-they-or-won’t-they moments. They became a couple in Season 5. Halfway through Season 6, it was over. Or was it?
“I guess it’s flattering in a sense that the fans of the show pick up on this chemistry and this shorthand between these two characters and it inspires their imagination to create other realms of possibility,” says O’Neil “I’ve always found that aspect of it very fascinating. While I have not – and I want to be very clear about that – dabbled in reading any of it, my understanding is that there is a really big fan-fiction community. They make edits and they will doctor photos to make new photos to help serve the narratives they create. A real community was born out of this shared thing that they saw between these two characters. It is strange because I think a lot of us didn’t see that so much, especially because the dynamic between those two characters at the beginning was quite adversarial given his mentorship style. But I think there is also just a chemistry and shorthand that Eric and I have as actors and I think that translates well onto camera.”
O’Neil hasn’t avoided the fan fiction because she is unnerved by it, she actually finds it “very sweet.” But she tends to leave Lucy Chen and her romantic entanglements behind during her off hours.
“It feels like a private space, it feels like it belongs to them,” she says. “Also, with hair and makeup and travel, sometimes my (work day) is like 16 hours and my whole world is the Rookie. So when I go home, I’m not trying to do more of it.”
O’Neil has now had seven years to contemplate and develop the character of Lucy Chen. She was one of the rookie L.A. cops when the series began. Initially, she was being trained by Bradford while romantically involved with the series’ titular long-in-the-tooth rookie, John Nolan (played by fellow Albertan Nathan Fillion.) Lots of drama has transpired beyond Chen’s love life since then as the police faced off against a colourful array of crime bosses, con men, serial killers, racist cops and dirty lawyers.
In Season 7, there is a full-circle feel to Chen’s character arc. She has become a trainer herself, assigned to mentor the green and mistake-prone newbie Seth Ridley as the season begins.
“Through the seasons, Lucy Chen has gone through quite an evolution,” O’Neil says. “I was one of the lucky ones because I got to occupy a character that began in a rookie role so she has had a lot of transformation through the years both professionally and personally and there’s a lot of reflection of that in my own life as well. I started the show in my 20s, I’m well into my 30s at this point. I had just recently moved to Los Angeles for the job. So I was also a rookie in this city. I learned how to drive on this job. I didn’t have my licence before. They didn’t know that. They probably wouldn’t have hired me had they known. It’s been quite the journey.”
O’Neil first entered the spotlight at the age of 16 as a third-season contestant on Canadian Idol in 2005. The former Lester B. Pearson High School student became the first female winner of the show, which thrust her to instant fame. She signed a record deal, released her debut album and toured extensively before turning her attention to musical theatre. She eventually appeared on Broadway, playing the role of Eponine in a production of Les Miserables. She shifted gears sharply in 2015, landing the role of a tough heroine in the Canadian sci-fi series Dark Matter. It ran for three seasons and her agent suggested she move to Los Angeles. She said she would only move if she got work in the city. Shortly thereafter, she landed the role of Chen. She has now lived in Los Angeles for seven years. The recent wildfires temporarily halted production of Season 7. O’Neil and her home were safe, but it was a close call.
“I was on the edge of an evacuation zone, so I did have my stuff ready,” she says. “I had to go to work on the day the fires started and I stayed up all night and I was watching the evacuation zone get closer and closer. When I went to sleep, the Eaton Canyon fire I think was maybe 70 acres and then in the middle of the night it went to 4,000 and then it was 10,000 by the time I got to work. I took my dog to work. I stayed up from 4 to 6, I just packed my car. I couldn’t believe how much I left at home. I thought about my go-bag. I had thought about what I would take and I was truly surprised at how much I left behind and was at peace with.”
Through it all, O’Neil says she has felt a strong sense of community in her adopted city.
“It was wild to see that and all of the different structures that got destroyed and how quickly it happened,” she says. “I think we have over 200,000 people in Los Angeles displaced right now. They run the full spectrum of socio-economic backgrounds. So many people are displaced and the other side of that whole thing is seeing the city rally through its communities to show up for each other. This period of time, when people have come out to be in support of each other, I don’t know how L.A. could ever be perceived in a shallow light anymore.”
