It sounds like The Rookie may be bringing back a character who was missed in season 8!
Like many ensemble shows, The Rookie has to juggle a lot of characters. The police drama will focus mostly on the main star, Nathan Fillion, as John Nolan, while giving equal time to the rest of the police officers and their loved ones. That’s not mentioning the score of recurring characters and guest stars who pop in and out of the storylines.
Speaking to Deadline, showrunner Alexi Hawley touched on that and mentioned one character who was missing from season 8 with the chances of a return in season 9.
“We’re lucky, after eight seasons and 144 episodes, we’ve had a lot of great characters on our show. I would love to see Tamara back next season. We didn’t get to her this season but I like her on our show. A lot of it is about balancing storyline. If there’s stories to tell, we’ll bring people back.”
Debuting in season 3, Tamara Colins (Dylan Conrique) has appeared in 26 episodes of the series to quickly become a popular face. The teenager was a homeless orphan when she stole Lucy’s car, with Lucy helping her get clean. She later let Tamara stay with her when she couldn’t get her relatives to take her in. Tamara finally moved out in season 6 to head to college.
Season 7 saw Tamara returning to enlist Lucy’s help in tracking a drug ring at her school. She also hit it off with Seth Ridley (Patrick Keleher) and soon became involved in a relationship, despite Lucy’s warnings about Seth’s constant lying. They were even engaged, but when he lost his leg in a shooting, Seth confessed he had indeed lied about so much in his life. Despite claiming he still loved Tamara, she broke up with him.
The only mention of Tamara since was Seth, in a lie detector test, confirming he really did love her and wanted to be with her. It’s logical that she’s been attending college and trying to move on with her life. It’d also be good to see if she’s found a new love interest.
With season 9 opening with Lucy and Tim being kidnapped, perhaps Tamara will want to be involved in the search to help repay Lucy for her past help. Or perhaps Seth comes back and tries to win her over again. As Hawley notes, it’s tricky, as they want to find the right storyline for her, not just have her pop up for no reason.
Conrique is busy with a singing career but obviously would jump at the chance to return to the show, so hopefully The Rookie brings Tamara back sometime in the next year.
The Rookie is streaming on Hulu.
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