The Rookie Brought Back Rachel Amid #Chenford Split To 'Stir The Pot' — But Not In 'Expected' Way, Says EP
ABC's The Rookie pulled off one of the deepest of cuts when in the Jan. 21 episode, Sgt. Tim Bradford's Season 2 love interest, SSW Rachel Hall (played by Sweetbitter's Jasmine Mathews), suddenly re-entered his and Officer Lucy Chen's lives.
Rachel was last seen in the Season 2 finale, en route to a dream job in New York, but not before she and Tim (Eric Winter) half-heartedly agreed to give the long distance thing a go.
They... did not.
Upon resurfacing at Mid-Wilshire Division in the new season's third episode, Rachel told Tim, "I'm sorry I didn't keep in touch," explaining, "I was just working constantly, and then my company downsized and I was just trying to keep my head above water until I couldn't. And now I'm here."
Rachel, though, apparently has been in touch with Lucy (Melissa O'Neil) here and there, and 10% knew that #Chenford was once a thing. What's more, she was good with that, opining, "They were a much better match anyway."
Does Rachel truly believe that, and thus will join 'shippers in rooting for a #Chenford reconciliation? Or is she here to make some mayhem?
JASMINE MATHEWS
While speaking with showrunner Alexi Hawley about Season 2 of Netflix's The Recruit (arriving this Thursday), TVLine asked about the reason for Rachel's sudden encore.
"Jasmine [Mathews], who plays Rachel, was such a great addition to the show, but she was super busy, so part of the reason that Rachel went away [at the end of Season 2], at least for us, was to try and get ahead of Jasmine being unavailable to us," Hawley shared.
In the years that followed, "I was always looking for a way to bring her back," Hawley added. "With Tim and Lucy broken up, it felt like a good opportunity to do that — but not to do the expected, which is to make it a love triangle. I thought that would ultimately be manipulative to the fans in a way that I don't like to be."
All together now: WHEW!
"But as somebody who ultimately ended up ghosting the two of them [Tim and good friend Lucy], is there more there to find out in later episodes? There is," Hawley previews. "So that was really what it was about. It seemed like a good opportunity to stir the pot a bit, but also to get Jasmine back on the show."
What "more" do you think there is to "find out" about Rachel's vanishing act? And how might her return "stir the pot a bit"? (With reporting by Andy Swift)
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