‘The Rookie’: Shawn Ashmore Hopes for ‘Antagonistic’ Wesley & Angela in Season 9

The Rookie Season 8 was one of change for lawyer Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore) — and it sets him up for a new storyline, but one with familiar touches, when the series returns in 2027.

After losing the election to Vivian (Necar Zadegan), Wesley left the DA’s office and has opened a new firm with Sean Del Monte (Michael Trucco), back working as a defense attorney. It’s a move that Ashmore likes and calls “fun” — especially with what it means for his and his wife Angela’s (Alyssa Diaz) dynamic since she’s a detective.

“I love the idea of circling back to where Wesley and Angela kind of started off, that antagonistic [dynamic],” he told TV Insider earlier this month. “And we saw it in the season finale with Tim [Eric Winter]. But I think that’s a nice development for Wesley and to kind of bring that back in. The Del Monte-Evers law firm, I think. is going to be a lot of fun hopefully in Season 9.”

While how much we see of Sean will depend, at least in part, on Trucco’s schedule, showrunner Alexi Hawley enjoys having those two characters together. “There’ll be stories where Wesley can be defending somebody if Trucco’s not available or whatever, where the firm still exists, but I don’t need to see both of them, but I’d love to see more of Trucco if we could,” he told us after the Season 8 finale.

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The Season 8 finale also set up Wesley to go after dirty lawyer Malcolm (Sean Patrick Thomas), who we met as serial killer Liam Glasser’s (Seth Gabel) attorney and has expanded his client list to include the likes of international crime boss Heath Everett (Jeffrey Vincent Parise). Wesley even joined Everett’s legal team so he can investigate Malcolm. What is it about Malcolm that’s getting under Wesley’s skin as much as he is?

“I think first of all, Malcolm is a great attorney and when you have a great attorney representing very bad people, that’s an issue for our characters, for our world. I think Wesley just has that vendetta to stop Malcolm being a very talented attorney from getting very bad people off. That’s it. Just his morality,” Ashmore said.

Looking ahead to Season 9, the star admitted that he likes not knowing where the show is going, so he doesn’t ask too many questions. “Every season has been a bit of a wild ride,” he noted. “I’m excited to see the firm grow. Hopefully that tension between the LAPD and Wesley now as a defense attorney be interesting but not rupture anything, don’t break anything. And I’m excited for some combative Wopez. Love that.”

What are you hoping to see in Season 9 with Wesley? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Rookie, Season 9, 2027, ABC