THE ROOKIE Season 3 Finale Post-Mortem: Alexi Hawley on La Fiera’s ‘Retribution’

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for THE ROOKIE season 3 finale.]

Angela’s (Alyssa Diaz) wedding day took a brutal turn on the season 3 finale of THE ROOKIE.

With essentially everything going wrong pre-her big day, it seemed things were finally on the right track: they got a new venue, her friends were safely there, and the villainous La Fiera (Camille Guaty) was in custody.

But La Fiera got free—and when Nolan (Nathan Fillion) went to check on the bride, he discovered she was missing.

So what comes next? THE ROOKIE boss Alexi Hawley shares a few teases about what’s to come in season 4…

A very pregnant Angela has been kidnapped. What made this the right way to end the season, and what can you preview about the fallout of this move?
We definitely spent a lot of time this season sort of getting that the La Fiera-Lopez relationship. And as complicated as it was, I think it’s a really dynamic relationship.There is a connection between these two women; they bonded over motherdom, to a certain extent. Obviously, La Fiera’s son, Diego, was killed, and in that episode. Lopez really liked that kid. The first time she met him, she took off her own bulletproof vest to hand it to him, seconds before they got shot at. So I think La Fiera saw that and realizes that there is some kindness there. And that, to a mother, that really meant a lot. So they have been going down this road of not being friends, but having this connection.

Ultimately, by the finale, it got to a point where what Lopez says to her in that jail cell is true: “You crossed the line with your kid and it got him killed. And you might be lying to yourself about that, but it’s the truth.” And I think that was a bitter pill. And so I think there was a need to get some retribution. We’ll just have to see what that looks like in season 4.

Assuming Angela gets out of this situation okay, how might the experience of this year impact the way she balances being a cop—and the dangers that carries with it—and a mother?
I think we did a good job of walking that line. Obviously, in the—for the lack of a better term—hospital episode where Diego was killed, there was the beginnings of a hard conversation with Wesley…he has nothing but respect for her ability to the job, but at what point do you need to slow down for a second. Obviously, we’re going to have to go through the jeopardy that she’s in with La Fiera.

But at some point, she will have the baby. And it would be a disservice if we didn’t actually address how that changes her. That feeling of whether she wants to go back or how it’s going to be when she goes back, now that she has the new responsibility, and all that kind of stuff. It was really important to us to put her on that journey, where at first she was trying to hide it, because she didn’t want to get judged for it, and then that power of her saying, “No, I’m not hiding it. In fact, it’s super important that other younger female officers see me, that I don’t hide the pregnancy. I’m stronger because I still do my job with it.” But, look, at the end of the day, every mom goes through a bit of a crisis about returning once the baby comes and you have that time with them, you’re what do I want to do? So I think we’ll definitely tell that story.

To dive a bit deeper into Lucy’s undercover opportunity, was there ever any version of this storyline where she remained undercover into next season? And how will this shape her path going forward?
This one, we knew that it was an episodic story. That being said, I was really proud of the opening, and that montage-y thing that really putting her in the deep end with that but I think we felt like it was, it was a one-episode story. The repercussions of that for her are, “Holy shit, that was intense, and I survived it, and I think I did pretty well, but there is a lot I don’t know.” That was part of Harper’s—and Grey’s, even—hesitation to even put her in was like, It’s no joke. You go through hundreds of hours of both book-learning, and in the field training. She has really good instincts, and obviously it helps that she’d been learning the chemistry ever since that that first encounter. But I think what that experience has given her is the proper respect for how hard it is to be that person. I don’t think she’s going to jump into undercover work. I think she’s going to go back to patrol with the knowledge that she’s got a lot of work to do before she feels confident to dive in the deep end again.

Lucy and Tim have been circling each other for a bit of time, and prior to Angela’s disappearance, the duo were going to share a dance at the wedding. But, on the flip side, when Tim thought she had feelings for him, he was clearly panicked. Where do you see their relationship heading right now?
I mean, we did [show] way back in the first couple episodes of this show, her being with Nolan was a problem. Unfairly, women cops who sleep with male cops, the women are the ones who get branded. It’d be unfair of us to just drop that idea—it’s something to be mindful of.

But the same time, we are incredibly grateful for the for the passion that the fans have for Chenford. But we’re also really respectful of our responsibility. One of the things in that episode where she professes her feelings for him as a way to gotcha about her ability for undercover is [that] I was joking I’d have to just turn my internet off after the episode aired. But I do think, at the end of the day, I was really happy because the fans got it, and they also appreciated the storyline we were telling, and it didn’t feel cheap. We didn’t do it to just mess with people—it actually was the story. And then, of course, obviously, that last scene with them, where she handed him the box that blew up in his face and all that kind of stuff like…my hope is that the audience understands how much we love the two of them together, but that at the end of the day, it’s not simple.

Tim feels incredibly strongly about a training officer and a rookie, and his role as a supervisor to her. That’s a line you do not cross. Obviously, as they start to become more equals, that becomes a bit more of a conversation. But we literally just got there. They’re great together. They’re phenomenal together. But I also think that the audience really loves them together, now.

Right now, the show is in a position where it’s about to have no rookies. In your mind, looking ahead, do you think the show needs to bring in new blood? Or are you looking to just keep the characters you have now?
Obviously, we brought in two new rookies, briefly. But that’s part of the conversation, honestly, that we had with the network: what is the show look like now that our rookies aren’t rookies anymore? We’re going to need to bring in some new rookies. Whether it’s one, whether it’s more than one, those are still sort of things we’re circling. But the real [situation] is that the police academy graduates a class every six months. The two officers who are assigned to mid-Wilshire flamed out, so they wouldn’t automatically get new rookies yet. But Tim did tell Katy [M. O’Brian’s character]  your paperwork good for three years. I thought that that actress was really, really good. So, there’s definitely a world in which Katy comes back or we find new rookies. It’s a show that is going to need new blood along the way, just ground it in reality.

THE ROOKIE, Sundays, 10/9c, ABC

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