‘The Rookie’ Promo: Tru Valentino Returns as Aaron Thorsen (VIDEO)

The Rookie is getting help from a very familiar officer in the Monday, February 2, episode. Tru Valentino returns as Aaron Thorsen; he exited ahead of Season 7.

The promo for Season 8 Episode 5, titled “The Network,” reveals Thorsen’s return. The logline reads: “Lieutenant Grey [Richard T. Jones] and the FBI task force enlist the help of an old colleague to uncover a criminal network; while Nolan [Nathan Fillion], Miles [Deric Augustine], Lucy [Melissa O’Neil], and Celina [Lisseth Chavez] respond to a mysterious officer involved shooting.”

The explosive promo reveals why Garza (The Rookie: Feds‘ Felix Solis) brings in Thorsen for the investigation. “My team has been chasing a private phone network used by the biggest heroin trafficker and a man you were incarcerated with,” he explains. “I would like for you to reconnect so we can bug the network and spy on all their calls.” But Thorsen warns that man is “a smart dude. He’s going to get suspicious.” And it certainly looks like that’s the case. Watch the video above.

The Season 7 premiere wrote out Thorsen by revealing he’d transferred to North Hollywood, where no one knew he was a patient of a therapist, Blair (Danielle Campbell), who had turned out to be dirty. In a statement after news broke of his exit, Valentino had left the door open for a return.

Related

'The Rookie's Nathan Fillion Previews Oscar's Return & What Makes Him 'Tricky'

“I will always cherish my time on The Rookie but couldn’t be more excited for what the future has in store. I adore the friends and relationships made while being there. It was such an amazing opportunity and feel so lucky to have had the last 3 seasons. Thank you to the best fans in the world, I know I don’t talk much, but I appreciate you all so much,” he wrote. “You never know who may pop back up in the Mid-Wilshire Precinct.”

The aforementioned task force is one that Garza put together and recruited Grey for in the Season 8 premiere, tracking down bad guys using the intel Monica (Bridget Regan) has given in exchange for her immunity deal.

“We’ve set up this idea of this sort of joint task force between the LAPD and the FBI sort of run by Garza on the FBI side and by Grey on the LAPD side,” showrunner Alexi Hawley told TV Insider. “And so there’s a task force office that we introduce in the season, and they’re sort of putting together a hit list of big bads, for lack of a more nuanced term, that Monica is going to help them target. It allows us to expand the scope of the show sometimes beyond L.A.”

What are you hoping to see from Tru Valentino’s return as Aaron Thorsen? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Rookie, Mondays, 10/9c, ABC