The Rookie is an ABC procedural that is about to kick off its 6th season. Starring Nathan Fillion, The Rookie is the story of John Nolan, a former contractor who decided to pursue a job in the police department after being involved in a bank robbery in his hometown. Originally from Pennsylvania, Nolan relocated to Los Angeles to go through the police academy and then join the LAPD. He is the oldest rookie the LAPD has ever had when the show began.
Throughout the last five seasons, Nolan and his fellow police officers have dealt with everything from stalker serial killers and gang leaders to kidnappings and murders. The team works well together, and the cast is close, which helps make the show one of television's great procedurals. The Rookie offers what other procedurals don't always offer, which is a humorous bend to the show, something Fillion is known for in particular. The show will begin its sixth season on February 20, 2024.
John Nolan's Late Start as a Rookie Lead to a Stellar Career
Nathan Fillion
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Characters Important to John Nolan's Story
Character Name | Actor | Role in Nolan's Story | Status on The Rookie | First Seen | Last Seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bailey Nune | Jenna Dewan | Bailey Nune is Nolan's fiancé. She is a firefighter in the LAFD, and they met when she showed up on his doorstep in a towel. | Bailey and Nolan are engaged and living together. | Season 3, Episode 14, "Threshold" | Season 5, Episode 22, "Under Siege" |
Zoe Andersen | Mercedes Mason | Zoe is the captain in Season 1, who builds a relationship with Nolan. | Zoe is killed in the line of duty while trying to protect Nolan from a gang leader. | Season 1, Episode 1, "Pilot" | Season 1, Episode 16, "Greenlight" |
Talia Bishop | Afton Williamson | Talia Bishop is Nolan's first training officer, and while she is pretty hard on him, he learns a lot from her. | Talia leaves at the end of Season 1 for a job with ATF. | Season 1, Episode 1, "Pilot" | Season 1, Episode 20, "Free Fall" |
Henry Nolan | Zayne Emory | Henry Nolan is John's son from his first marriage. Henry is in his 20s and recently engaged. | Henry drops out of college to begin work for Nolan's wealthy friend, Ben McRee (Currie Graham) | Season 1, Episode 7, "The Ride Along" | Season 4, Episode 9, "Breakdown" |
Sarah Nolan | Emily Deschanel | Sarah Nolan is John's first wife and Henry's mother. | She lives in Pennsylvania. | Season 3, Episode 12, "Brave Heart" | Season 3, Episode 12, "Brave Heart" |
Evelyn Nolan | Frances Fisher | Evelyn Nolan is John's manipulative mother who is a pyramid scheme lover. | Evelyn dies in Season 5, and John must return home to clean out her house. | Season 3, Episode 3, "La Fiera" | Season 3, Episode 4, "Sabotage" |
Pete Nolan | Pete Davidson | Pete Nolan is John's half-brother on his father's side. | Pete and his girlfriend, Chastity, remain together and likely have had their child by now. | Season 2, Episode 13, "Follow-up Day" | Season 4, Episode 22, "Day in the Hole" |
Skip Tracer Randy | Flula Borg | Skip Tracer Randy is a bounty hunter who occasionally works with Nolan and Harper. | Most recently, Flula was nearly arrested for a crime he was attempting to solve. | Season 4, Episode 10, "Heart Beat" | Season 5, Episode 20, "S.T.R." |
Nathan Fillion is best known as Mal Reynolds from Firefly and Serenity and Richard Castle from Castle.
John Nolan is a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. He began the show as the oldest rookie in the LAPD. He works closely with a team of people who solve things like speeding tickets, gang-related incidents, and murder. He is also stalked by a serial killer who's obsessed with him but finally dies in Season 6 after escaping and murdering several more people.
At the end of Season 4, Nolan is sent to a precinct on the U.S.-Mexico border and assists the officers there in arresting a wanted federal criminal. At the beginning of Season 5, he is awarded a golden ticket, meaning he can choose whatever job he wants. Everyone has opinions on what he should choose, but ultimately, John chooses to use the golden ticket to allow him to retake his test to be a Training Officer (TO), which he missed while on assignment. In Season 5, Nolan gets his first trainee.
Lucy Chen's Empathy Makes Her a Better Undercover Cop
Melissa O'Neil
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Characters Important to Lucy Chen's Story
Character Name | Actor | Role in Chen's Story | Status on The Rookie | First Seen | Last Seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chris Sanford | Kanoa Goo | Chris Sanford is an Assistant District Attorney who begins dating Lucy in Season Four. | Lucy breaks up with him when she realizes she has feelings for Tim Bradford, but not before Rosalind Dyer nearly kills him, which keeps Lucy with him longer than she intended. | Season 4, Episode 10, "Heart Beat" | Season 5, Episode 17, "The Enemy Within" |
Tamara Collins | Dylan Conrique | Tamara is a teenage girl who stole Lucy's car in Season 3. Lucy discovered Tamara was homeless and took her under her wing, even inviting her to move in. | Tamara and Lucy still live together, though Tamara is considering moving out now that Lucy is dating Tim. | Season 3, Episode 2, "In Justice" | Season 5, Episode 20, "S.T.R." |
Melissa O'Neil won the third season of Canadian Idol in 2005 at just 17 years old. She was the first woman to win the show and remains the youngest person to have ever won the show. The Rookie hinted at her connection to the Idol franchise in the intro of Season 2, Episode 17, "The Overnight."
Lucy Chen is one of the other rookies who started with Nolan at the beginning of the series. Her training officer was Tim Bradford, who was a stickler for certain things and more lax on others. He taught her a lot about being a police officer, and they became great friends after she completed her training. Chen then expressed interest in going undercover as part of her career track. She is considered very good at being undercover.
Chen's parents are psychologists who are opposed to police work as her career choice, but she has been able to use what they taught her to be a better cop. In the first three seasons, she was very close to Jackson West, and they even lived together, so his death was particularly devastating to her. As she and Tim Bradford grew closer as friends, their relationship began to feel more romantic, and they have been dating since the beginning of Season 6.
Tim Bradford's Tough Demeanor Is Mostly for Show
Eric Winter
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Characters Important to Tim Bradford's Story
Character Name | Actor | Role in Bradford's Story | Status on The Rookie | First Seen | Last Seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Isabel Bradford | Mircea Monroe | Isabel Bradford is Tim's first wife, who was also a police officer. While she was undercover, she became addicted to drugs. In the first season, they're still married but estranged because she is still using and is living on the street. | In Season 5, Isabel returned and asked Tim and Lucy Chen for help locating someone from her undercover past. Isabel has relocated to Santa Fe. | Season 1, Episode 1, "Pilot" | Season 5, Episode 20, "S.T.R." |
Gennifer Bradford | Peyton List | Gennifer Bradford is Tim's younger sister who came back to Los Angeles to help Tim deal with their childhood home now that their father is in hospice. | Gennifer decided to relocate to Los Angeles with her two sons because she and her husband are getting divorced. | Season 4, Episode 8, "Hit and Run" | Season 5, Episode 11, "The Naked and the Dead" |
Tom Bradford | James Remar | Tom Bradford is Tim's estranged father. He was abusive towards Tim as a child. | Tim confronts him about helping his lover cover up the murder of her husband. Tom tried to justify how he treated Tim by saying that it made him a cop, and Tim told him that he was able to do that in spite of the way his father had treated him. | Season 4, Episode 9, "Breakdown" | Season 4, Episode 9, "Breakdown" |
Eric Winter and his wife, Roselyn Sanchez, co-wrote a children's book called Sebi and the Land of Cha Cha Cha, which was inspired by their daughter.
Tim Bradford starts the show as a training officer, working directly with Lucy Chen. A bit of a stick in the mud, Bradford can come across as short and a little bit mean, but he is actually an excellent teacher. Bradford and Chen become close, and he encourages her to pursue undercover work. Bradford becomes a Sergeant in Season 4, making him second in command at the Mid-Wilshire Division. Bradford is also close friends with Angela Lopez, a relationship viewers want to see more of.
When Bradford and Chen start dating, they realize that they can no longer work in a direct line of supervision. Lucy offers to transfer stations, and in order to prevent her from doing that, Tim takes a desk job. Chen knows he will hate it, so she works with her friends and colleagues to maneuver people around so that Bradford can move to Metro, which is a division responsible for managing the LAPD's K-9, SWAT, mounted, and crime suppression units. He is now the Sergeant for that division but still works out of Mid-Wilshire.
Family Comes First for Angela Lopez
Alyssa Diaz
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Character Important to Angela Lopez's Story
Character Name | Actor | Role in Lopez's Story | Status on The Rookie | First Seen | Last Seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wesley Evers | Shawn Ashmore | Wesley Evers is Lopez's husband. He is a former defense attorney who moved to the DA's office after he made a deal with Elijah Stone to get Angela back from Sandra de la Cruz. Wesley comes from family money, which has been an interesting adjustment for Lopez. | Wesley and Lopez are currently married with one son, Jackson, and another on the way. | Season 1, Episode 7, "The Ride Along" | Season 5, Episode 22, "Under Siege" |
Sandra de la Cruz | Camille Guaty | Sandra "La Fiera" de la Cruz is a businesswoman and drug lord from Guatemala who has several bad interactions with Lopez. | La Fiera kidnapped Lopez from her wedding, took her to Guatemala, and was going to keep her until she had her baby and then take it from her. The team was able to find her, and Lopez shot La Fiera. | Season 3, Episode 3, "La Fiera" | Season 4, Episode 1, "Life and Death" |
Elijah Stone | Brandon Jay McLaren | Elijah Stone is a crime boss who forced Wesley to be his lawyer in exchange for helping retrieve Lopez from Guatemala. | In Season 5, Episode 15, "The Enemy Within," the LAPD interrupts a deal between Stone and Abril Rodas, who took over La Fiera's crew. Stone fights with Lopez and Nyla Harper before Lopez finally arrests him. | Season 4, Episode 1, "Life and Death" | Season 5, Episode 17, "The Enemy Within" |
Monica Stevens | Bridget Regan | When Wesley moves from being Elijah's lawyer to the DA's office, he arrives at trial to find his ex-fiance, Monica Stevens, representing Elijah. | As of the end of Season 5, Monica was threatened with arrest if she interferes in any further investigations with Elijah, but she did call Abril Rodas to see if she needed counsel, and she defended Skip Tracer Randy. | Season 5, Episode 6, "The Reckoning" | Season 5, Episode 20, "S.T.R." |
Alyssa Diaz is best known for her roles in shows like Army Wives, As The World Turns, and Ray Donovan.
Angela begins The Rookie as Jackson West's training officer. They have the best relationship of the three rookie-training officer pairings, and Jackson becomes one of Angela's closest friends. After she transitions to being a detective in Season 3, Episode 1, "Consequences," she begins to work on a number of homicide and gang-related cases, which is how she meets defense attorney Wesley Evers. Though they clashed at first, they eventually dated and got married.
Lopez became involved in several gang-related cases once she became a detective, both of which have had a significant impact on her family. At her wedding, Lopez was kidnapped by La Fiera, and in the process, Jackson West was killed. His death was incredibly difficult for Lopez, and she chose to name her son Jackson in his honor. In Season 5, Lopez and her husband spent several episodes dealing with the fallout of Wesley moving to the DA's office and Elijah Stone still antagonizing their family.
Wade Grey Ensures Mid-Wilshire's Success
Richard T. Jones
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Characters Important to Wade Grey's Story
Character Name | Actor | Role in Grey's Story | Status on The Rookie | First Seen | Last Seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quigley Smitty | Brent Huff | Smitty is one of the other police officers in the department. He's one of the older officers, so if Grey and Bradford are not at the Mid-Wilshire Division, then Smitty is the de facto person in charge due to seniority. Most people try to prevent this since Smitty is sort of a lazy cop and kind of a weird guy. Smitty often brings comedy to episodes that might not otherwise have it. | Smitty continues to work at Mid-Wilshire with the rest of the team. | Season 1, Episode 14, "Plain Clothes Day" | Season 5, Episode 21, "Going Under" |
Luna Grey | Angel Parker | Luna Gray is the wife of Wade Grey who can occasionally be found at the precinct, though mostly when the family members of police have been told they need protection. In Season 1, she gets involved in a pyramid scheme courtesy of Nolan's mother. Luna and Wade have one daughter, Dominique, who goes to college in New York City. | Luna and Wade are still married and recently had to solve their daughter's disappearance together in New York (she was found safe). | Season 1, Episode 12, "Heartbreak" | Season 5, Episode 22, "Under Siege" |
Richard T. Jones is best known for his appearance as Mike in Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? (2007) and Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010), as well as his six seasons on Judging Amy.
Wade Grey is the Sergeant and the watch commander at the Mid-Wilshire Division. Initially, he hates Nolan because he thinks that Nolan is just having a mid-life crisis and that someone Nolan's age can't be a rookie, but eventually really learns to appreciate him. Grey is particularly pleased when Nolan decides to become a training officer.
Grey is close to Angela Lopez, as she was the rookie who was with him and his partner when his partner died in a shooting 10 years prior to the start of the show. He also has a strong relationship with Tim Bradford. In Season 2, it is revealed that he does not think Jackson West is ready to be a police officer, and Grey continues to make Jackson wear long sleeves — a sign that an officer is still considered a rookie — until he can prove himself, though, after West's death at the beginning of Season 4, Grey admits that he considered West like a son to him.
Jackson West Is a Beloved Character
Titus Makin Jr.
Prior to joining The Rookie, Titus Makin Jr. portrayed Lukas Parnell in Star-Crossed, Clark Wilkins in Pretty Little Liars, and Caleb Matthews in The Path.
Jackson West is a legacy who begins his rookie training with Lucy and John. His training officer is Angela Lopez, and they become quite close. On their first day out, West freezes when he needs to fire his weapon, something Lopez isn't able to help him with prior to Season 1, Episode 4, "The Switch," where Bradford takes over as West's TO and then yells at Lopez for giving him a "broken rookie." West later saves Bradford during a supermarket shootout, which changes their relationship for the better.
West, whose father Percy is the head of Internal Affairs, considers himself the best prepared rookie but ends up almost failing his mid-term exam, which leads Grey to keeping him in long sleeves. It takes him time to prove himself, but he does. West is also gay and has a strained relationship with his family, though with his mother, it's because he became a police officer. His death in Season 4, Episode 1, "Life and Death," is devastating for the whole team.
Nyla Harper Is One of The Rookie's Best Characters
Mekia Cox
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Characters Important to Nyla Harper's Story
Character Name | Actor | Role in Harper's Story | Status on The Rookie | First Seen | Last Seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lila Town | Carsyn Rose | Lila is Harper's daughter from her first marriage to Donovan Tate. When the show begins, Harper is hoping to get shared custody of her daughter back. | Lila is occasionally seen with Nyla and James, as Nyla now has shared custody. | Season 2, Episode 4, "Warriors and Guardians" | Season 5, Episode 6, "The Reckoning" |
James Murray | Arjay Smith | James Murray is Nyla's second husband. They met when she was on patrol in his neighborhood, where he runs a community center. | James and Nyla are married and just had a daughter, Leah, who was born at home. | Season 3, Episode 2, "In Justice" | Season 5, Episode 22, "Under Siege" |
Mekia Cox is trained as a dancer and was one of only two women selected for the 11-person dance group for Michael Jackson's This Is It concert series. She can be seen in behind-the-scenes footage in the This Is It film. She also played an important role in Seasons 2 and 3 of Chicago Med.
Nyla showed up in Season 2, having just come out of undercover. She had a golden ticket because of something that happened undercover, and she chose to come to the Mid-Wilshire Division and become a training officer so that she could be close to her daughter. Though Wade Grey initially does not trust her, eventually, he sees that she is an excellent police officer and gives her a recommendation for her court custody hearing. Grey also put Harper with John Nolan on purpose because he knew that Nolan wouldn't be intimidated by her. When Harper gets shared custody of her daughter, she partially credits Nolan's support for it happening.
Harper is also very close friends with Angela, and she is the one who initially encouraged Lucy to pursue undercover work and recommended her for undercover school and training. In Season 5, once Nolan is able to be a training officer, Harper returns to being a detective and works closely with Lopez.
Aaron Thorsen Brings a Valuable Perspective to Mid-Wilshire
Tru Valentino
Prior to The Rookie, Tru Valentino did primarily voice acting and is best known for The Henry Stickman Collection and Fast & Furious Spy Racers.
Aaron Thorsen is the most recent rookie to become a full-fledged police officer, and his time becoming a cop was anything but easy. Thorsen, the son of a famous rapper, had a very privileged childhood. All seemed to be going smoothly until he went to France with his best friend, Patrick, and found Patrick dead in their bathroom. Thorsen was accused of his murder and dealt with several mistrials while he spent a year in a French prison. The case was huge in the media, which meant that, even though he was acquitted, Thorsen faced a lot of scrutiny when he returned to the United States. When he determined that he wanted to be a police officer, to change his life and honor his friend, he had to sue the LAPD to be allowed into the academy, though he did very well once inside.
Harper is Thorsen's first TO, and she is sure he won't last, but he proves her wrong. Throughout Season 4, Thorsen continually proves people wrong, including in Season 4, Episode 16, "Real Crime," when Thorsen agrees to take part in a documentary about his life in order to rebrand his image. Through the documentary, Thorsen and his colleagues are able to solve Patrick's murder, finally proving Thorsen's innocence once and for all. When Nolan becomes TO in Season 5, he takes over Thorsen's training as his first assignment. Later, Thorsen becomes friends with Celina Juarez, Nolan's new rookie, and they are walking home together in Season 5, Episode 22, "Under Siege," when they are attacked and Thorsen is shot. His status remains unknown.
Celina Juarez Changes Nolan and Their Colleagues
Lisseth Chavez
Characters Important to Celina Juarez's Story
Character Name | Actor | Role in Celina's Story | Status on The Rookie | First Seen | Last Seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Karla Juarez | Marlene Forte | Karla Juarez is Celina's mother, who doesn't leave their house and doesn't know that Celina is on patrol. This is due, in part, because when Celina was a child, her sister Blanca was kidnapped from their front yard and murdered. | Since Season 5, Episode 19, "A Hole in The World," Karla has been able to leave the house. | Season 5, Episode 13, "Daddy Cop" | Season 5, Episode 19, "A Hole in The World" |
Blanca Juarez | N/A | When Celina was 9, Blanca was kidnapped from their front yard and was missing for three weeks before a psychic helped police find her. Blanca was in the hospital for two weeks before succumbing to her injuries. | Blanca's murder was finally solved in Season 5, Episode 19, "A Hole in The World." | N/A | N/A |
Lisseth Chavez had roles in The Fosters, Chicago P.D., and DC's Legends of Tomorrow prior to joining the cast of The Rookie.
Celina Juarez is the first rookie that John Nolan trains completely. Celina believes in auras, signs from the divine, horoscopes, and the like, which initially Nolan is concerned about, especially after she pulls over a vehicle for having a "dark aura" coming from its trunk in Season 5, Episode 3, "Dye Hard." Though Celina is right about the car — it is later implicated in a serious crime — Nolan has to teach her how to use the things she believes in that are more "unconventional" to help her find the actual clues that allow them to pull people over, arrest them, etc.
Celina became a cop because her sister Blanca was kidnapped and murdered when Selena was 9. In Season 5, Episode 19, "A Hole in The World," another young girl goes missing, and Lopez and Harper think that it fits a pattern they've seen before — a pattern that includes Blanca's murder. Celina insists on helping, and eventually, the team is able to find the missing girl and solve Blanca's case. Celina becomes good friends with Thorsen, and after they are attacked in the finale, Celina sits by his bedside, talking to him about Dungeons and Dragons, which they play together, and praying for him.
Rosalind Dyer Was The Rookie's Strongest Villain
Annie Wersching
Annie Wersching had roles in shows like 24, Bosch, Timeless, The Vampire Diaries, and General Hospital during her career. In January 2023, Wersching passed away after a short battle with cancer.
Rosalind Dyer is a convicted serial killer who initially meets the team in Season 2, Episode 10, "The Dark Side," when she is brought to Mid-Wilshire as part of a deal with ADA Sean Del Monte (Michael Trucco). Rosalind is semi-cooperative, but the team discovers that something is amiss when they realize Dyer is somehow still killing people. Without Dyer's help, Nolan and Harper are able to find the third victim, but the killer gets away before they can catch them. And then Lucy Chen goes missing.
Chen is abducted by Caleb Wright (Michael Cassidy) and buried alive out in the desert. Though she is found, her abduction and burial take a toll on her. Harper requests to ride with her to help ease her back into being on patrol, and Bradford delays his promotion to Sergeant so that he can complete Lucy's training. Over time, Chen begins to move on, but when Dyer is brought to court to be tried for the crimes perpetrated by Caleb on her behalf in Season 5, Episode 1, "Double Down," and escapes, Chen is again a target, though this time through her boyfriend, Chris Sanford. Rosalind disappears for a bit but returns to Los Angeles in Season 5, Episode 4, "The Choice," when she rigs a trap for Bailey Nune so that she can get Nolan alone in exchange for Bailey's life. Once Nolan follows her directions, she tries to push him to kill her by threatening Bailey's life, but Nolan trusts his team to protect Bailey and arrests Dyer instead. After terrorizing the team at Mid-Wilshire for years, Dyer seems to finally be captured when a sniper shoots her, preventing her from ever having to go to jail again.
