Melissa O’Neil and Lisseth Chavez in THE ROOKIE – Season 6 – “Punch Card” | ©2024 ABC | Raymond Liu
ABC’s series THE ROOKIE is now on Tuesday nights in its sixth season, available the next day on Hulu, and has been renewed for a seventh. The show’s title character, John Nolan (Nathan Fillion), started the series as a fortyish LAPD rookie, and has since become a training officer for other rookies. While Fillion receives top billing, THE ROOKIE has evolved into an ensemble dramedy, in which all of the regular characters get substantial storylines.
Therefore, when THE ROOKIE does a presentation during ABC’s portion of the Television Critics Association (TCA) Winter 2024 press tour, the whole ensemble cast is onstage for a Q&A, along with series creator Alexi Hawley.
Melissa O’Neil, who plays Officer Lucy Chen, makes herself available for a brief follow-up discussion, and brings along colleagues Alyssa Diaz, who plays Detective Angela Lopez, and Lisseth Chavez, who plays Nolan’s current trainee, Celina Juarez.
This interview combines answers the women gave during the Q&A session with the follow-up conversation.
In describing THE ROOKIE, Diaz begin with, “Dramedy. But also, there’s romance, there’s the action. It’s just so rewarding, because so many people love the show from all walks of life. And that’s what surprises me constantly, is that it really appeals to everybody, and it has something for everyone … It keeps you entertained. It’s not one note. And all the characters are really nuanced, so it has something for everyone.”
O’Neil agrees. “Yeah. Families are watching it together at home, and people are bringing their grandparents and their parents to it now. Right now, if you go onto Twitter, some young person in their twenties has just got their grandma hooked on it. And she’s recording reaction videos while her grandma’s watching it. This woman is screaming at the television screen for stuff that we shot six years ago. It’s amazing. And it was really exciting to see that stat … about how a lot of new people are being introduced to the show now on Hulu, and we’re seeing that feedback online, and it’s so much fun.”
THE ROOKIE Season 6 Key Art | ©2024 ABC
O’Neil’s character Lucy has been through a lot of both emotional and physical trauma. One of the most intense was being kidnapped and buried alive by a serial killer. Did O’Neil experience claustrophobia in those underground sequences?
“I didn’t feel claustrophobic, but it was really interesting to actually be six feet in the ground with a lid closed over you and then dirt poured on top of that. There was not much Method acting needed in that moment.”
Diaz’s character Angela has had two children with her husband Wesley Evers, played by Shawn Ashmore. Both of these were written to coincide with Diaz’s real-life pregnancies. In THE ROOKIE, Angela was kidnapped, threatened with death and the kidnapping of her first unborn baby, and then ultimately gave birth in the rescue helicopter.
“I think it’s been really fun to add this layer and to grow with Angela literally, physically and emotionally, having kids. And to add the motherhood layer to it has been extraordinary. So, thank you, Alexi, for making that work. There’s a lot of mom stuff with Mekia [Cox, who plays Angela’s fellow detective Nyla Harper; as with Diaz, Cox’s real-life pregnancy was written into the series]. The fun thing about adding that layer is that I feel it makes Angela being a mother more primal, which is great.”
Diaz says she was given a heads-up that Angela’s second baby would arrive in more tranquil surroundings. “Alexi told me prior. He said, ‘This is going to be a more relaxed one’,” she laughs. “It’s funny, because in the second pregnancy, Angela was trying to figure everything out, like a crime, during contractions. It’s different with the second one. And when I was having my actual child, I was making calls to DWP and contractors and people working on my house, swim lessons for my son, and like, ‘Did he make it on time?!’, so it was very much similar to [what Angela was doing].”
When Ashmore joined the cast as a recurring character (he’s now a regular) in Season 1, Episode 7, was he always intended as a romantic partner for Angela? “W knew he was going to be the love interest,” Diaz explains, “it was just the length of it we did not know. Shawn is extremely talented, and funny, and lovely to work with, and it’s great that [the characters] got married and have kids. I love Shawn.”
“You have a hot relationship,” Chavez observes. “All those early scenes with you guys are really neat.”
Alissa Diaz in THE ROOKIE – Season 6 – “Punch Card” | ©2024 ABC / Raymond Liu
Like Ashmore, Chavez says she had no idea that she’d become a series regular when her LAPD trainee character first appeared in THE ROOKIE’s fifth season. “They knew they wanted her to recur, but I’d always find out by the end of the episode [when Celina would return]. I’m trying to get a glimpse to see if I’m in the next episode. And then, luckily, they kept me, and now I’m a series regular. They’ve adopted me.”
O’Neil offers that something else nobody knew about early on was that Lucy and her one-time training officer, Sgt. Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) would have a passionate romance. “Of course not,” she laughs. “That was not planned at all. That was absolute fanfic that made it onto screen.”
How did O’Neil feel about the scene this season where Lucy, while asking whether or not he really wanted her to be an undercover detective, found out through a lie detector test that Tim loves her?
“Oh, my gosh. I feel like we’ve had so many things happen in this season. That was adorable. And it’s one of those exciting situations where, when Alexi is directing, I feel like we all have a little bit more freedom to collaborate with him, because he’s right there with us in the room. And we’re like, ‘What do you think about this?’ So, we had a lot of fun, and we reined back on some stuff.”
Everyone involved with THE ROOKIE sounds like they appreciate how Fillion conducts himself and interacts with his fellow actors, the creative staff and the crew. O’Neil relates, “He will not take any credit for it whatsoever, but he sets the tone. He really does. And there’s a reason why the guest stars go away and they’re making Instagram posts – ‘Wow, Nathan Fillion was so amazing,’ because he’s just like that, and he makes everybody feel welcome. And it dictates for us, ‘Okay, that’s how we should be.’”
Diaz concurs. “It does.”
“If we’re not already like that, we should be like that,” O’Neil elaborates.
What would the trio most like people to know about the rest of THE ROOKIE Season 6?
“They’re going to love it,” O’Neil states.
Chavez adds, “They’re going to love it, yes. It’s going to be shorter, but it’s going to be jam-packed.”
“Yeah,” Diaz concludes. “It’s even more of what they love, so tune in.”
Related: THE ROOKIE: Creator and Executive Producer Alexi Hawley on Season 6 – Exclusive Interview
Related: THE ROOKIE: Actor Eric Winter on Season 2 of the ABC drama series – Exclusive Interview
Related: THE ROOKIE: Creator Alexi Hawley talks about Season 2 – Exclusive Interview
Related: THE ROOKIE: Nathan Fillion chats Season 2 – Exclusive Interview
Related: THE ROOKIE: Richard T. Jones talks about Season 1 – Exclusive Interview
Related: THE ROOKIE: Creator Alexi Hawley chats about Season 1 of his new Nathan Fillion series
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Article: THE ROOKIE: Actors Alyssa Diaz, Melissa O’Neil and Lisseth Chavez on Season 6 of the hit ABC police series
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