‘The Rookie’: Melissa O’Neil Talks Chenford, Tim’s Mom & More (VIDEO)

One relationship may be rocky right now on The Rookie, but Chenford is certainly going strong. And Melissa O’Neil says it’s because of that that Lucy’s able to focus on other parts of her life in Season 8.

“I think Lucy is really happy,” she tells TV Insider in the video interview above. “I think sometimes when a woman is well-loved and their home is good and safe and secure, they start to excel in other parts because they’re not busy tending the home, which I think is like a biological imperative for a lot of us, where it’s like, ‘I’ve got to make sure my home is good, regardless of who’s in it.’ And so when it’s good and settled, it frees up our energy to be more creative, more decisive, more in our power. And I do see that reflected very much in Lucy’s journey holistically. The home is feeling good and safe for the first time in a long time, and she’s being entrusted with more responsibility and cases that intrigue her and allow her perceptiveness to come to the surface and her capacity and capability.”

We’re certainly seeing that this season for Lucy at work. The sergeant is now a roving supervisor and just wrapped a weeks-long undercover case with Nyla (Mekia Cox) in Mexico.

But there is potential for something to shake that up, with Tim’s (Eric Winter) mother (Sela Ward, as revealed in the preview) visiting in the February 23 episode. O’Neil raves about working with Ward and what we’ll see in that episode.

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“I think we get to see an aspect of Lucy in relation to his mother that’s one of the stronger parts of her wheelhouse. There’s a beautiful conversation between the two of them that I’m excited for that there’s a lot of insight there into who her partner is and how all of this has come about and potentially why he is the way that he is. And yet we don’t villainize the mother in the process, which I think is important,” she shares.

“Families aren’t perfect. And I think in this way it makes them stronger, but that’s all to be seen,” she adds of Chenford.

Watch the video interview above for more from Melissa O’Neil on Chenford, Tim’s mother, and the rest of Season 8.

The Rookie, Mondays, 10/9c, ABC