‘The Rookie’ Showrunner Teases “Unexpected Revelations” for Chenford in Season 7

The Rookie Season 7 has brought with it several twists and turns in its run so far. The show’s latest episode, Season 7, Episode 14, “Mad About Murder,” saw the unexpected professional hitman Malvado (Jimmy Gonzales) which shocked officer Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and his wife, Bailey (Jenna Dewan). But amid the stress brought on for Bailey due to her involvement with Malvado, the police procedural had some time to shine the light on the Chenford pair of Lucy (Melissa O’Neil) and Tim (Eric Winter). Detective Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) seems to have caught on the scent that Chenford might be trying to work their way back to one another. So, what comes next for the couple?

Showrunner Alexi Hawley who has been carefully crafting the love story of Chen and Bradford, recently discussed what has been the plan for the couple throughout Season 7. “I didn’t want to make it easy, partly because I felt like what Tim had done to her, the way he broke up with her, the way he punished himself by punishing her was fairly seismic,” Hawley explains to TV Insider regarding what he is doing with Chenford. “And I felt like it would be a disservice to the characters if we just had a couple of episodes of penalty box and then they were back together.”

“So I thought it was really important this season to dig into the real effects that it had on her, him doing some work because clearly what he did was not emotionally healthy, and then also just treat them as real flawed human beings who have a hookup, even though it’s probably not the smartest thing for their relationship, and then find distance again, and then have Lucy sort of make some choices that are emotionally complicated for her,” he adds. “So all that said, I do think at their heart that there is an undeniable connection between the two of them, and part of it is just them sort of finding their way back towards each other whenever that happens..”

‘The Rookie’ Continues Incorporating Film Homages

One of the things incorporated into The Rookie Season 7 has been the drawing of inspiration of from other shows for certain episodes. While episode 12 drew inspiration from The Purge, the episode prior, titled “Speed,” was a pure adrenaline ride inspired by the 1994 action thriller Speed. During a conversation with Collider’s Therese Lacson about Episode 14, titled “Mad About Murder,” Hawley broke down how the episode honored 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs.with Celina’s search for a missing pregnant woman named Aria (Julia Rose). Hawley’s comments read:

“I mean, that was very inspired by, you know, Jame Gumb’s house in The Silence of the Lambs, right? When I started writing that story, to me, that’s what immediately jumped to mind was that amazing sequence from the movie where Clarice is, you know, he bolts into the house and she’s looking for him, and it’s really scary.”

Tune in to ABC on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET to watch new episodes of The Rookie. Catch up on Hulu in the US.

The Rookie

Release Date

October 16, 2018

Network

ABC

Showrunner

Alexi Hawley

Directors

Tori Garrett, Chi-Yoon Chung, Michael Goi, Sylvain White, Lisa Demaine, Lanre Olabisi, Bill Johnson, David McWhirter, Liz Friedlander, Daniel Willis, Toa Fraser, Anne Renton, Jon Huertas, Cherie Nowlan, TK Shom, Rob Seidenglanz, Valerie Weiss, Barbara Brown, Charissa Sanjarernsuithikul, SJ Main Muñoz, Nelson McCormick, Marcus Stokes, Adam Davidson, Anna Mastro

Writers

Corey Miller, Bill Rinier, Zoe Cheng, Mary Trahan, Ally Seibert, Liz Alper, Nick Hurwitz, Racheal Seymour, Madeleine Coghlan, David Radcliff

Source: TV Insider