It’s been a tough year for Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) on The Rookie. He lost his much-coveted job on Metro and, as a result, he ended his relationship with Lucy (Melissa O’Neil), all of which led him to therapy. But then his therapist Blair London (Danielle Campbell) turned out to be in league with the bad guys, only that wasn’t discovered before she caused him to be relieved of duty. And, oh yeah, he was also being framed for murder.
Then again, it could have been worse. Tim could have been fired, but Sgt. Grey (Richard T. Jones) believed in him enough to put him back on patrol, although that, of course, was before the murder charges.
In tonight’s season finale, though, Tim finally caught a break and the discovery that Pierson (Daniel Bonjour) was framing him for Mad Dog’s (Nick Gomez) death, which in reality was a suicide, allowed him to return to duty and be put into action in the op that would reveal the truth.
“I think where we’ll see him pick up is he will be somebody that moves back onto patrol as a training officer,” Winter told Parade in this exclusive interview as to where Tim will be when we return in 2025 for Season 7. “I don’t see him going back in the rank that he was in in that Metro position, maybe not for quite some time. Maybe not ever. I think we’ll resume with him back on patrol and doing what we know Tim to be great at, which is training rookies.”
This cascade of events that began Tim’s downward spiral was of his own making. He saw one of his worst nightmares from the past come back to haunt him when a former military teammate Ray (David Dastmalchian) turned up in L.A. Tim had vowed to kill Ray if he ever saw him again, but Ray threatened to ruin Tim’s career by exposing his filing of a fraudulent after action report back when Ray allegedly died, so Tim decided to stalk him and catch him doing something illegal.
“At the end of the day, he knows how bad of a person he was dealing with, and he opted to lie to people he respected,” Winter, who thinks Tim believes he made the right decision, explains. “The fallout and its consequences could have been far worse. I think he’s trying to convince himself that he lied for the greater good—to protect Angela (Alyssa Diaz) and Lucy, but it’s hard for him. I think that’s why he lost himself and that even led to the Chenford breakup. He is struggling with an identity and what he represents.”
All may not be lost when it comes to Chenford. Despite the bad breakup, Lucy still loves Tim, and she has gone out of her way to help him in his difficulties. She even put her life at risk by jumping from a moving car to a moving truck when Tim was losing a fight with the driver of the truck.
“There’s no question that Tim loves Lucy, as well. That breakup was incredibly awkward. It wasn’t a traditional breakup; it was almost like a traditional breakup but in a way that it’s truly something Tim can’t put a finger on. He loves this woman and thinks she’s incredible, but he just doesn’t feel that he’s good enough for her. He let himself down. He doesn’t love himself right now.”
So, Tim might return to therapy—a better vetted therapist this time around, to earn back the respect for himself that he lost and possibly to also learn how to forgive himself for some of the mistakes he’s made.
“I think in doing that we might see Tim and Lucy work their way back together over time,” Winter says. “I don’t know how quick it will be, but over time. It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out.”
During our conversation, Winter also talks about how Tim’s fellow officers had his back, what he enjoys about playing the role and how he almost wasn’t cast, how The Rookie finds the right balance between reality and entertainment, and more.
Pierson (Daniel Bonjour) was going to charge Tim with murdering Mad Dog. But Tim learned what a family he had at the Mid-Wilshire Precinct, because his fellow officers went to bat for him, including Lucy. Is he surprised?
I don’t think he’s surprised that the people had his back, but I think it was more affirmation about what kind of a family he has there at work and the people that he puts his life on the line for, not just the community, but his coworkers every day that he cares so much about. It meant a lot to him to know in that position everyone stepped up to support Tim.
The actors I interview about their TV shows always talk about how it’s a family.
That’s generally a lie. I will say, though, on our show, and this is not a lie and I always say it’s a bit of an anomaly, we are so close as a cast. It does exist in the world, I guess, even as a cop on The Rookie or as an actor on The Rookie. The people around you, your coworkers, would have your back. Very [enviable] to be in that position. It’s one of the things that we were talking about just recently. We are just happy to be able to come to work every day.
There’s so much action in this episode. That stunt where Tim jumps on the moving truck and breaks a window to get in the cabin then Lucy jumps on the truck to save his life when he’s down on the floor in the truck. What was it like filming that? Stunt doubles had to be involved because that stuff looked really dangerous.
Yeah, a lot of the stuff out of the gate was my stunt double jumping on a moving truck. That part was definitely a double. I offered to do it and they said absolutely not. So, my stunt double got Tim onto the moving truck as it was pulling out of the driveway, and then the rest of it I did. They did shoot a lot of footage far away of the stunt actors doing it in the street in real life from a distance. So, you’re seeing them jump across moving trucks and fighting and doing all that. They did an incredible job. Then when we went in tight for the coverage, we shot at this amazing stage at Disney called the Infinity Stage, which has this massive LED screen that makes it feel like you’re on a moving street at all times. We got to finish the fight in close contact.
We have an awesome stunt team I have to say. Our stunt team is awesome on this show. They’re nominated for an Emmy this year, so they’re great.
At the end, Tim and Lucy joke about how he finally goes into therapy and his therapist is selling secrets to the bad guys. She was a good therapist but a bad person. Even so, do you think Tim learned something about himself that we might see a change in him next season?
One hundered per cent. I hope that’s something we continue to explore. I wouldn’t mind seeing Tim continue through a little bit of therapy and deal with a lot of his baggage. I think he has a ton of baggage to unpack. It’s part of what makes Tim who he is, but I think we need to see his evolution in the best sense. I hope we get more of Tim in the new season, but also not pushing away everything that we dug into about him and his demons, if you will.
I hope we bring some of it to life with Tim’s family. I talked to [showrunner] Alexi [Hawley]; I said I’d love to meet Tim’s mom because I feel like he probably had a great relationship with her or has a great relationship with her, even though the one with his dad was so bad. It might be another way to peer into his past and his psyche of who he really is.
You don’t have scripts from next season yet, but this is a cliffhanger. Monica’s (Bridget Regan) still out there somewhere wandering around Argentina. But the more immediate danger is Oscar (Matthew Glave) and Jason (Steve Kazee) are out of prison. Do you think that that’s where we’ll pick up and everybody will come together to try to recapture these guys?
That’s a great question, and I’m not sure. I don’t know if it’ll be revisited right away or if it’ll be something that might circle its way back around in the season. Sometimes we do these time jumps as to where we are. I actually don’t know. I know Alexi felt like he told a lot of that story but, you’re right, there’s still bad guys on the street and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d come back at some point, if not right away.
It sounds as if you really love this role. What is it about Tim that you love? With all his dysfunction, I wouldn’t say you’re like him, but there must be things about him you can relate to.
Yeah, there’s a lot of things about Tim I can relate to, especially his loyalty to the ones he cares about and how much he treats people with respect and would do anything for them. I don’t have a ton in common with Tim and his past, his upbringing and his family. I love the complexity of the character. For me, it’s been a dream role in many ways. I’m so grateful to Alexi and Nathan [Fillion] and ABC for taking the chance on me all those years ago to let me play a role like this. A lot of people in the early process didn’t think I was right for the role. They didn’t think I was him. They thought I was too nice, and they wouldn’t let me go out there and just act and be who I thought I could make Bradford.
But with anybody going through trauma or issues, there has to be this likeability to him, and I saw that in the pilot when I first auditioned for the role. You hated this guy for a good half of the pilot until you realized he’s so damaged because of his trauma with his ex-wife. And then he became relatable, or people empathized with him a bit. Those kinds of layers have been brought into Tim since the very beginning. Alexi beautifully writes for every single season. I have so much incredible character development. It makes it such a joy to explore. Because he’s not like me, but there are a lot of ways I can tap into that I relate to Tim. I think it’s allowed for a very true portrayal of who I think he is as a person.
With what’s going on in the real world right now, I imagine it’s really hard to balance a police drama. We know that there are bad cops. But, also, cops are there in the worst moment of your life when you really need them. The show must find a balance to do that, to stay realistic, but also it needs to entertain us. How do you think The Rookie does that?
It’s one of the things that I respect so much about the show is that balance. We’re trying to tell stories about real cops out there in the streets. Listen, we have a lot of advisors on our show, I’ve done multiple ride-alongs. I’ve said from the beginning nobody wants a cop around until you need a cop. You get a ticket, you get pulled over, you’re like, “Cops, they suck, they’re terrible.” Then you’re in danger or there’s some problem at your home or anything and you’re like, “How fast can a cop be at my house?” There are so many amazing officers out there every day. Most officers are out there every day risking their life to try to make the community a better and safer place. It’s unfortunate that occasionally you get a bad story about a cop that didn’t do something correctly. It gives cops a bad rap.
Like I said, I’ve done ride-alongs and a lot of these cops take it so personally that are out there risking their lives and doing the best they can every day. You see so many amazing organizations out there. One that I’m working with on another project, called Tunnels to Towers, helps fallen first responder families. A lot of officers are killed in the line of duty just for routine traffic stops. It’s a very dangerous job. And thankless a lot of the time.
The Rookie was picked up by ABC for its seventh season, which will begin airing new episodes midseason in 2025.
