Is ‘The Rookie’ Setting Up a ‘Chenford’ Romance?

Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) and Tim Bradford’s (Eric Winter) relationship has developed over the previous few seasons of The Rookie. And with the 2 getting nearer in season 4, followers of the ABC sequence are questioning whether it is establishing a “Chenford” romance.

L-R: Melissa O’Neil as Lucy Chen and Eric Winter as Tim Bradford in ‘The Rookie’ | Raymond Liu/ABC

‘The Rookie’ showrunners didn’t plan on a romance for Chen and Bradford

The Rookie Season 1 began with Chen and Nolan (Nathan Fillion) relationship. However when Nolan’s Coaching Officer, Talia Bishop (Afton Williamson), found their relationship, she urged Chen to interrupt it off. Bishop instructed that Chen wouldn’t be taken significantly if she saved relationship a fellow officer. And she or he advised Nolan that their romance may hinder Chen’s probabilities of transferring up. So, the couple broke up with no arduous emotions, and so they’ve remained good associates since. 

When speaking to TV Line in 2020, showrunner Alexi Hawley spoke about a potential romance between Chen and Bradford. And citing Chen’s breakup with Nolan, he famous that placing the 2 characters collectively could be hypocritical.

“We’d be hypocrites [to write a Lucy/Tim romance] because we made it very clear in those first four or five episodes that female officers unfairly get tagged if they sleep with cops, and it’s why Nolan and Lucy couldn’t be together — and ultimately I think that was the right move,” Hawley mentioned. 

“I mean, he was on the rebound from a 20-year marriage and she was 20 years his junior, and so it worked out the way it was supposed to,” Hawley added. “But if we turned around and threw [Lucy and Tim] together, that would be somewhat hypocritical.”

The showrunner additionally defined that it could go in opposition to Tim’s nature to start out a romance with an officer who works below him. “Tim would never cross that line,” he defined. “So while I’m obviously aware that there’s a big ‘shipping’ there, and I appreciate any kind of passion about the show, that’s a huge line [to cross].”

‘The Rookie’ showrunner thinks Chen and Bradford’s friendship is particular

Chen and Bradford are getting nearer in season 4 of The Rookie. They’ve been a nice help to one another via private points and household drama. And in a current chat with TV Line, Hawley instructed their friendship is way more attention-grabbing than a romance. 

“The intimacy that exists between them is really special,” he mentioned. “I think the fact that they’re not romantically entangled makes it more special, because they are coming from a place of friendship and connection first, and not a place of romance — Over time, they have earned that connection, and I think it is so much richer.”

However Alexi Hawley says the present’s writers thought-about introducing a Chenford romance

There’s little question that Chen and Bradford have chemistry. And when speaking to TV Insider about The Rookie, Season 4, Episode 9, wherein Chen hugs Bradford after he meets his father, Hawley admitted that romantic rigidity does add to their storylines. And he revealed that the present’s writers have thought-about bringing the 2 collectively. 

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“I think the intimacy that we’ve gotten with them over these seasons, by not going to a romantic place, for me anyway, has been super powerful,” he defined. “And I think the tension that exists, as we all know from those Will They, Won’t They-type relationships is really, it’s a spark. And I just love what it does to us to keep that alive.”

“But don’t think my writers’ room isn’t plotting ways to put them together immediately,” Hawley added. “I’m still trying to navigate the best way to tell their story and what’s the best way to that relationship.”

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