By Lola Bailey
The finale of The Rookie left fans confused and desperate for more. The show is on its seventh season. The first season was released on October 16, 2018, on ABC and has been renewed for an eighth season for 2026.
But why end this season the same way as the previous?
The season started off strong, finding out where Bailey’s, played by Jenna Dewan, ex-husband, Jason, is hiding after escaping prison. That was the only plot line to conclude from the series six finale.
However, Oscar Hutchinson, portrayed by Matthew Glave, who escaped with Jason, Monica Stevens, played by Bridget Regan, were nowhere to be found throughout the whole season till the end. No mentions, the LAPD were not pressed to find these villains.
New rookies started at the Mid-Wilshire station, Seth Ridley and Miles Penn. As Officer Nolan was still training Celina, Lucy Chen was promoted to P3 to train Seth. However that did not last long as Seth was revealed to have a secret that made him leave the program.
Ridley, portrayed by Patrick Keleher, was a detestable character since his first appearance. His can-do attitude and wannabe super officer is irritating. Chen, played by the wonderful Melissa O’Neil, caught him in two lies that made her question his ability to be a truthful police officer. The night she decided Ridley should not continue in the program, the cancer ‘bomb’ was dropped, all lies.
The second rookie Miles, portrayed by Deric Augustine, is a Texan who was previously in the Sugar Land Police Department before moving to Los Angeles. At the beginning, he was not the best, calling Chen “darling” but as the season moved on he became a loved character.
Other notable plots for this season included James and Nyla, played by Arjay Smith and Mekia Cox, a power couple who got married shortly after finding out they were going to have a child together, went through a hard patch as James was in the hospital after a shooting incident after being kissed by a former friend of his, Kylie. Nyla was preoccupied by Glasser, a serial killer, when the news hit but fortunately for them everything worked out.
Unfortunately, this season lacked Wopez – Wesley Evers and Angela Lopez, portrayed by Shawn Ashmore and Alyssa Diaz – an amazing lawyer-detective duo who have been through it all since season one.
What we missed with Wopez was not missed with Chenford, Lucy and Tim Bradford, played by Eric Winter. They may not have got back together but hopefully we will see them reunite in season eight. Fans were disappointed with their last interaction, however I found their last scene to be sweet. Tim finally realised he messed up their relationship and is ready to take the next step into their relationship.
Between ‘The Gala’, ‘Wildfire’ and the ‘April Fool’s’ episodes, Chenford fans had many wholesome moments throughout season seven. We are all very hopeful that they will get back together in season eight.
After finishing her probationary period at the LAPD, Celina Juarez, portrayed by Lisseth Chavez, started dating Rodge, a musician who first appeared in season five and sang “Daddy Cop” in a garage while Nolan and Juarez were doing a traffic control. Safe to say officer John Nolan, played by Nathan Fillion, was not too impressed.
As the season came to an end, it was announced that Deric would be a show regular for future seasons. With this announcement came when the next series will come out. Many fans, including myself, were not happy to know that it will be coming out midseason on ABC airing in 2026 instead of September 2025.