The Rookie boss talks all things Chenford in recent season 7 tease

Fans of The Rookie are hopeful for more Chenford action, but the couple may be on a long road ahead!

The Rookie has had a tricky time with a very shortened Season 6. A subplot of that was Tim Bradford (Alec Winter) and Lucy Chen (Melissa O'Neil) hitting some skids in their relationship. That included Lucy's suspicion that Tim might be sabotaging her efforts to become a detective out of some warped idea of protecting her. 

Tim's temper didn't help it in the field, where he saw a shrink and then headed off on a personal mission to take out a soldier who betrayed his unit years before. That had them put in danger and while it was settled, the distrust between the pair pushed Tim to break it off. 

The pair had to keep working together while the rest of the squad was on eggshells handling this. Tim also had to handle a conspiracy of corrupt lawyer Monica, his own shrink and ties to a criminal cartel. That led to an explosive finale where Tim finally apologized to Lucy for his behavior and hoped he could get back with her. 

So fans are naturally wondering if this means the pair are back together, but it may not be so fast!

What's coming for Chenford in The Rookie season 7?

The Rookie has been on a long hiatus as ABC decided that rather than start it in the fall, they'd hold the show until 2025. The good news is that when it airs, Season 7 will have all 18 episodes running without any breaks.

Speaking to TVLine, co-showrunner Alexi Hawley shared some insight into how Tim is in for a tough time trying to win back Lucy's trust. 

"He's not done with the work he's got to do. Lucy doesn't fully trust him now, so there's a lot of trust that needs to be re-earned, and it can't just happen in a few weeks. But I like that we really faced [Tim's issues] head-on and it was really based on something organic."

Season 6 had to be cut down to just ten episodes due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes, meaning the breakup of Chenford was a bit rushed. It makes sense that trying to get back together will take longer as anyone can attest it's easier to break something than to fix it and that goes for relationships as well. 

The couple do have their own struggles with Lucy still wanting to become a detective and Tim having to overcome the problems with that conspiracy of compromised cops. They also know they can't go back to exactly what they are following the split. Yet there's some potential that now that they know how hard it is to keep things going and avoid some past mishaps.

It was tough seeing the pair split, given how great they were together but some hope of a good reunion. The fact that there's a good chance of them getting back together is another reason to be hopeful for The Rookie and make the long wait for Season 7 worthwhile. 

The Rookie Season 7 premieres Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025 at 10/9c on ABC.