THE ROOKIE at TCA: Live-Blog

With THE ROOKIE about to celebrate episode 100, the cast and showrunner are participating in a panel for the Television Critics Association.

Follow along for our live-blog (kicking off at approximately 3:15 PM PT), as stars Nathan Fillion, Shawn Ashmore, Lisseth Chavez, Mekia Cox, Jenna Dewan, Alyssa Diaz, Richard T. Jones, Melissa O’Neil, Tru Valentino, and Eric Winter, plus creator Alexi Hawley talk about the drama…

3:19 PM: The panel has yet to start, but the cast is cheering for each other as each name is announced. It’s very cute. Before the panel, we’re getting a lovely series-long retrospective of what has happened so far.

3:22 PM: [The first question was mine and spoilery for episode 100. Answer after that airs!] Update, February 27: Here’s the team’s answer about the “adorable” lie detector/I love you scene.

3:23 PM: Cox says it was like art imitating life when her character gave birth at home—she did the same. (Less dramatic than Nyla’s experience, hopefully.) Hawley says it’s one of his favorite moments of the show.



3:25 PM: “More and more like John, if John’s knees are really starting to hurt him,” Fillion jokes. In all seriousness, the stunt coordinator has helped avoid Nolan end up on his knees in scenes; he also says he doesn’t run much anymore.

3:26 PM: “There’s been a lot of television in the past ten years…the shows what people look forward to watching are [procedurals],” Hawley says. There are stakes, but it’s also comforting, plus they often have 22-episodes. He notes it’s something like comfort food.

“I think the people like the show because of the characters, because of the relationships…the fact that we are a procedural…it’s just the form,” Fillion says.

3:28 PM: How do they balance the many characters? Hawley notes some episodes lean more towards other characters, but he hopes the actors don’t feel underserved. Cox praises them for making it feel well-rounded.

“I’ve never been on a show where I cared so much about parts I’m not in,” Fillion jokes.

3:30 PM: “Dramedy, romance, there’s action….so many people love the show from so many different walks of life, which is so rewarding,” Diaz says. “It keeps you entertained, it’s not one-note.”

O’Neil says a girl got her grandma hooked on the show and is recording it and sharing on social media; she loves it.



3:32 PM: Fillion gets stopped all the time for THE ROOKIE. “You can forget that the world is watching sometimes, especially if you’re having a great time,” Fillion says.

“I really appreciate” getting love from law enforcement, Jones adds.

3:33 PM: “This show is lightning in a bottle…I feel very taken care of,” Dewan says of working while pregnant. Hawley jokes that every time they’ve thought about making a character pregnant, their real-life portrayer winds up pregnant.

3:35 PM: “I don’t know, just to be completely honest, how much constructive things there are to say about that,” Hawley says of THE ROOKIE: FEDS cancellation. He says it’s not so much the strike but everything that led to the strike. He thinks it was a business decision.

3:36 PM: “It’s been really fun to add this layer [of motherhood],” Diaz says. There’s a lot of mom drama for Angela and Nyla.

3:38 PM: Hawley notes he feels incredibly supported with THE ROOKIE, but he reiterates FEDS was a casualty of the greater industry.

3:39 PM: Winter says he loves this current season is putting Grey out in the field. He notes it’s hard to keep a show interesting this deep in, “but they continue to elevate every season.” He has learned a bunch about Tim this season.

Lopez and Tim end up in a ride or die situation season, Hawley teases. “Any time we put different actors in a car together, it’s a different dynamic.”

3:41 PM: “Were it up to me, they’d all last a very, very long time,” Fillion says of the shows he’s done. He notes he feels more like a passenger, though. O’Neil says he’s very Canadian and sets the tone on set—”he makes everyone feel welcome.”

“He is a very rare leading man who is willing to fall down, who is willing to fail…who is willing to be human,” Hawley says. “There’s such humanity to Nathan whether he’s the captain of a starship or a mystery writer or the oldest rookie.”



3:44 PM: Fillion says there’s no training to doing press or panels. But when was he a rookie? He praises ONE LIFE TO LIVE, the actors who took him under his wing every time he had a question. “Everyone there, still friends of mine, helped me become the…actor I am today,” Fillion says. He’s showing us the three faces to end a scene on: Basically debating whether a stove was left on or not.

3:45 PM: “I think audience appreciates humor, it releases tension,” Hawley says of comparisons between CASTLE and THE ROOKIE. Fillion says both shows have engines that allow all different types of stories which allows you “to keep it exciting and new and lends to the longevity.”

3:48 PM: “I learned a lot about acting and trying to make sense of where I’m at in the moment,” Winter says of his first day on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. He echoes Fillion’s point that he learned a lot about the technical craft from the soaps.

3:49 PM: “I created this show in the shadow of Philando Castile’s death,” Hawley says. He wanted to create an aspirational show of seeing officers do things the right way. But after George Floyd’s death, he notes they had a responsibility to do more and be better—because they’re a patrol show, they had the ability to do more. They continue to tell stories about police reform: “We have now established there are consequences to police officers that do things the wrong way.”

“Police shows have to be aware in this day and age,” he concludes.

THE ROOKIE, Season Premiere, Tuesday, February 20, 9/8c, ABC

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