‘The Rookie’: 7 Burning Questions for Season 9
The Rookie sure knows how to leave its fans needing more immediately — and that makes the wait until the Season 9 premiere in 2027 feel even longer. The ABC drama has become a midseason series in recent years, and such will remain the case in the 2026-2027 season.
And so it will be months before we learn what happens to Tim (Eric Winter) and Lucy (Melissa O’Neil) after their joyous moment on the beach (he finally proposed, and she said yes) was rudely interrupted by some people working for one of their current ongoing antagonists, Everett (Jeffrey Vincent Parise). But that’s not the only loose end after the Season 8 finale. There’s another recurring villain still out there, there’s the matter of what a wedding could look like, and so much more.
Below, we take a look at our burning questions for Season 9. Let us know yours in the comments section.
The Rookie, Season 9, 2027, ABC
What will happen to Lucy and Tim?
As TV Insider discussed with showrunner Alexi Hawley after the Season 8 finale, he agreed with us that “there is a reason they were taken and not killed.” But Everett’s people must have a plan for them, likely to try to use them to free their boss. It’s just a matter of what will happen to them in the meantime.
Winter did have a suggestion, telling us, “I have no clue how we start, but I do feel there’s a world in which they should show up in separate locations. I don’t think they should be kidnapped in the same place. I think that’ll increase the stakes. It will be incredibly dramatic. What happened to each person? How do I get out? Whereas if we’re together, then there’s going to be teamwork. Obviously, people are going to come in and help us out.”
How long will it take for Lucy and Tim to be rescued?
It does seem likely that they’ll be found in the premiere, though, if Winter is right and they’re being held separately, one could very well be found before the other — and that second person could still be missing at the end of the premiere. That would certainly up the stakes, since it does feel like a storyline that should be resolved sooner rather than later.
What will the Chenford wedding look like?
It may take a while to get there, since there is the kidnapping to resolve, but it does feel like a wedding has to take place in Season 9. Whatever happens to them when they’re kidnapped could lead to Tim and Lucy deciding either they don’t want to wait too long, putting a wedding earlier in the season rather than later — and possibly be what Winter told us, that “Tim is the type of guy that would probably elope” — or they need a bit more time and the wedding is delayed to the finale.
Mekia Cox pointed out, “I think the entire crew would want to celebrate Chenford,” and she’s right, especially given how long it’s taken for the fan-favorite couple to get to this point. So, while O’Neil suggested something “peaceful and uneventful,” possibly “very, very private to ensure that nobody else gets stabbed or kidnapped,” it’s not hard to imagine their friends and family (especially Tim’s mother, played by Sela Ward) talking them into something a bit bigger.
Will Wesley be able to take down Malcolm?
Wesley (Shawn Ashmore) joined Everett’s legal team to secretly investigate Malcolm (Sean Patrick Thomas), who seems to be the go-to lawyer for all the baddies in their lives (Everett, Seth Gabel‘s serial killer Liam Glasser, and Bridget Regan‘s Monica). But Malcolm’s proven to be resourceful, so stopping him won’t be so easy.
“That is a journey for Season 9, this is a guy who’s sort of the worst version of a defense lawyer and now as Wesley’s all the way back into being a defense lawyer, it’s going to be interesting because who Wesley is after being in the DA’s office and after really becoming team police is different than it used to be when he was defending people like Elijah [Brandon Jay McLaren] and stuff like that. And so that’ll be interesting going forward to see where that line is set now,” Hawley told us.
Will the LAPD bring down Liam Glasser in Season 9?
Serial killer Liam Glasser remains free, and you know it’s just a matter of time before he strikes again, whether by taking another victim or targeting someone in the LAPD (and yes, Cox’s Nyla is a strong possibility for that, given their history, but he could also go after someone else). Hawley called Glasser being free “a ticking bomb,” and we can’t wait to see how that goes off in Season 9.
However, at the same time, it does feel like the LAPD has to deal with him, for good, sooner rather than later, meaning that next season should probably be his last.
How will the next group of rookies go?
The series began when John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) was a rookie, and he’s since become a training officer. Miles (Deric Augustine) is no longer going to be a rookie when the series returns, and we can only hope that there’s not another Seth (Patrick Keleher) in the mix.
How often will The Rookie and The Rookie: North cross over?
The long-running drama is being joined by a new spinoff in the midseason, The Rookie: North, starring Jay Ellis, and we already know Fillion will be in its first episode. Since The Rookie: Feds ended, those characters have appeared on the original series quite a few times. A two-hour event is, of course, always fun, but those tend to be big, explosive cases and we’d like to make sure there’s also time to enjoy character interactions, which might make one-offs, with more time for that, more intriguing.
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I think the crossover between The Rookie and The Rookie North could include the rescue of Chenford. It would be a great way to introduce the show in a natural way.
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Please do not let Chenford die.. Show their wedding!!
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I really enjoy this show, but I wish they would show more of the 'other' characters and not always having Nolan come to the rescue. I enjoy seeing him on screen, but without Lucy and Tim, I don't think I would really watch as much as I do.
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Nolan is literally the Main Character it’s his Show ?? And I get that you wouldn’t watch as much without Tim and Lucy but they can’t be showing him less in his own show ??
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I really love the show , I just hope I’m still around. Getting older and things are not going well. Bless The whole cast.
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Does anyone else think Shawn Ashmore looks alot like Neil Patrick Harris?
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Seth Gabel is the most amazing actor. He can be seriously good looking like he is in real life (The Watcher) (Dirty Sexy Money) or The Rookie right now but he is a killer? Not sure. Most but most of the the time he is fugly and scary like Big Sky, Jeffrey Dahlmer x3 and Salem plus SO much more!
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