\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018The Rookie\u2019: Melissa O\u2019Neil as Lucy<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Mike Taing<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tDEADLINE: But why Lucy, what does she have to do with anything? Is she just collateral damage?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: Well, she\u2019s obviously the person that Tim cares about most, and this is about punishing him for not accepting the bribe and ultimately turning on Everett, or betraying Everett in his own weird mind. I think it\u2019s more about inflicting maximum punishment, so taking them both felt like that.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: I had completely forgotten about the bribe, it happened months ago. Why is Everett still hung up on that when he should be angry about his recapture? Does he know who exactly did it? The cops were all wearing camouflage makeup.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: There\u2019s a moment in the boat after they grabbed him where he\u2019s looking up at Tim, and Lucy\u2019s putting zip ties on him. So he knew it was Tim. In my mind, the abduction is a backup plan that was put in place in case he didn\u2019t get away, that was his reaching out, quote unquote, from the grave, so to speak. They were waiting a little bit; when he got rearrested, that got triggered.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: Since Everett is behind bars, do we know who is pulling the strings on his behalf? Is it somebody we know or is it something you will be deciding in the Season 9 writers room?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: Yeah, I think so. Obviously we introduced Malcolm into that universe in this episode, but it\u2019s too soon for him to be that deep with Everett. So yeah, I think there\u2019s a right hand person out there that is pulling these strings for sure.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: Is Everett targeting only Tim and Lucy or is he going after the entire squad that arrested him on the boat?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: It is meant to be just for Tim and Lucy, and it\u2019s really meant to be Tim because Everett said, \u2018You\u2019re going to regret this.\u2019 And he\u2019s a man of his word.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: I assume that a main plot line next season will be Nolan and the rest trying to bring Tim and Lucy back?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s all season but we\u2019re definitely gonna start that way, figure out where they are, and figure out how to get them back, and whatever obstacles we can put in their way on that. And then seeing Tim and Lucy wherever they are, I don\u2019t think they\u2019re going to sit idly by and wait to be rescued. What does that look like? I don\u2019t know yet, but I\u2019m excited to find out.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018The Rookie\u2019: Seth Gabel <\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Mike Taing<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tDEADLINE: Season 8 had two cliffhangers involving villains. Before Everett, you brought serial killer Liam Glasser back for a couple of episodes. He also made a threat to Nolan after he lost the custody hearing. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: I wouldn\u2019t say it was a threat in the same way. Everett\u2019s threat was very much like, I\u2019m going to get you. Glasser\u2019s threat was, in a perverted way, like, You saved my life, means that whatever comes after this is on you. Not that I\u2019m coming after you, but once I kill again, the bodies that are on me, ultimately, you have something to do with those because you saved my life and then you set me free a little bit.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: What did Glasser mean when he mentioned that famous serial killers had paused their sprees while they had little kids. Even if he doesn\u2019t have custody, he still has kids. Is he, in your mind, saying that he\u2019s going to start killing again?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: But he\u2019s not parenting those kids. The custody hearing, the restraining order, he\u2019s had nothing to do with his children, so therefore it\u2019s all free time. I think what we\u2019re trying to get at is that some of these serial killers who have had families as sort of beards were less active once they were actively parenting young children. So that was what Glasser was trying to do, which is threaten a little bit like, I got free time on my hands now, so I\u2019ll go right back at it. So we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: On<\/em> The Rookie, you sideline villains for a while, and then they pop back in. Obviously Tim and Lucy\u2019s storyline has urgency. Are you going to wait a little until Glasser resurfaces?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: Probably a little bit. It\u2019s going to be all hands on deck, and Tim and Lucy at the beginning of the season will take up some space. Also, we\u2019re not watching Glasser, unfortunately, we know who he is and what he might be up to, but it\u2019s not our job, and we don\u2019t have the resources. I think Glasser is a smart villain, it\u2019s why he got away with it is because he was doing a DNA buffet with his victims, and he was burying them in another serial killer\u2019s grave.<\/p>\n \n\tHe\u2019s smart, so I do think it would take us a little while before we would get onto whatever he might be up to next. It\u2019ll definitely be Season 9, I don\u2019t want to wait too long to see him again. But I\u2019m not sure exactly what part of Season 9.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: But, asking on behalf of all parents, his former wife and his children will be safe, right? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: Yes, I think they will be. Going down that road would get him in trouble immediately. I think he\u2019s smart enough not to mess with them. <\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: Season 8 brought back another popular <\/em>Rookie villain, Oscar Hutchinson, played by Matthew Glave, who has appeared on the show every season. You brought him back for one episode, and he is in the wind again. Will he get an arc soon beyond the one-off?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: I think so, I\u2019m a little sketchy on that right now. I love Matthew, I think he\u2019s so much fun as an actor, and he\u2019s been great for us. I also know that we have a little bit of a shelf life on how many times we can bring him back and let him escape again. I feel like we\u2019re at that point in the same way that I felt like Monica had reached the end of her story. I feel like with Oscar, we got to figure out something clever to do with him rather than just another meet cute, so to speak. I don\u2019t know what that is yet. I want to get them back but I don\u2019t know exactly how to do it just yet in a way that\u2019s fresh.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: What other villains are you looking to bring back?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: Actually, my plan going into the writers room for Season 9 is to have somebody, or somebodies go back to the first couple of early seasons and try and figure out, some of our people that we\u2019ve seen before who might have gone to prison, would they be out by now? Like, organically, are there some people that we put away that would actually have served their time, gotten out, and can we bring them back? Because we have some characters from the first couple seasons that I really liked, but obviously they go to jail, so you\u2019re like, well, we can\u2019t do anything with them. It\u2019s nice, we\u2019ve got to a place now where I think we can start to, as real life happens, oh, they\u2019re back out and we do something with them.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: That\u2019s the benefit of the show going to a ninth season.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: For sure.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018The Rookie\u2019: Shawn Ashmore as Wesley<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Mike Taing<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tDEADLINE: Staying on the villain beat, Glasser\u2019s attorney Malcolm, who has now joined Everett\u2019s team, didn\u2019t seem like a redeemable character but then helped the police in the finale a bit. Will there be more shades to him next season, is there a nice person underneath maybe?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: I don\u2019t know about a nice person. We work really hard to have nuance with our villains where we can, I think Monica is a good example of that this season with her last few episodes, and the tragedy that she even realized about herself. I would never want Malcolm to just be one-dimensional, I think there\u2019s a lot to discover about him still going forward. Sean\u2019s a really great actor, I was excited to get him, and it feels like there\u2019s more we can do with him. So we\u2019ll definitely dig in on that for next season.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: Malcolm and Wesley are now working together for Everett. For Wesley, that turn came out of nowhere. It was explained later that he was doing it to help the police but is that the truth or is he going to the dark side a bit?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: No, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to the dark side. I think ultimately, he saw an opportunity. Him and Angela, they knew they needed to get back at Malcolm and find out the truth [about Glasser]. And then Malcolm literally came knocking on his door with an opportunity, and I think Wesley took that but then failed to share that plan with his wife on the front side. I don\u2019t know that Wesley\u2019s still working for Everett in that 901, I don\u2019t think they\u2019re working together going forward, but I do think that Wesley is trying to figure out a way to burn Malcolm for what he sees as the pain that he\u2019s inflicted.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: You mentioned Monica a couple of times, she got redemption at the end. Was that the arc you envisioned from the beginning, that she was ultimately going to die? Was there an option for her to get away? By the end, we were kind of rooting for her to get a new life.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: I think that\u2019s right. I knew, I wouldn\u2019t say in the very beginning of the season, but I definitely had conversations with Bridget in Prague [where the Season 8 premiere was shot] about making sure that Monica didn\u2019t become a one-dimensional villain, and that even her trying to find money to live at a lifestyle, asking for help from Nolan, all that stuff was meant to sort of go, Monica, actually, is a human being.<\/p>\n \n\tI think the tragedy of Monica really was that she, at the end of the day, just couldn\u2019t get out of her own way. And I think she realized that by the end. I thought that scene with Wesley was really powerful. Both of them are just so good in it. I just like that she sees the tragedy of her life and doesn\u2019t quite know how she got there, even though she knows exactly the steps. I thought that was pretty poignant. <\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: Well, she <\/em>really didn\u2019t want to live in the middle of the country\u2026<\/em>(Monica refused to enter witness protection unless it involved her living on the coasts.)<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: She didn\u2019t want to be in a flyover state, working at a Cinnabon, she just didn\u2019t. For some people, that\u2019s the line. It sounds like a perfectly nice life, but not for her.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018The Rookie\u2019: Nathan Fillion as Nolan<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Mike Taing<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tDEADLINE: To clarify, was it Bailey who saved Nolan when he fell overboard at the end of the clandestine operation to recapture Everett, right? It was very dark. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: Yeah, that was Bailey jumping in to get him.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: Nolan had a nightmare of him drowning in dark water earlier in the finale. Did he dream of the same thing that then happened to him in real life or was that a framing device?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: It was a framing device. I do think that he\u2019s been carrying a lot of stress and PTSD, he did get shot recently as he was protecting Glasser, there\u2019s been a lot of dramatic stuff. So I think the nightmare, the suffocation feeling he was feeling, was real. But yes, ultimately, it was a framing device. <\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: The gag with the ring got a little bit out of hand with everyone knowing about it and giving advice. Did you intend it as a way to have the entire squad involved in the proposal? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: I just like the idea that the ring is a story, that it\u2019s not just a device, that it\u2019s not easy. Again, I joke about the romcom of it all but I do feel like our show contains a lot of different genres, and romcom is one of them. And so this idea that Tim starts out getting the heirloom ring from his mom, which is horrendous, we play that for fun, and then the idea of just trying to find a ring that speaks to him, and not having a ton of money, trying to honor the policeman\u2019s salary of it all and everything; it just seemed like a story that was fun.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd then it ultimately came down to less about the ring itself and more about who Tim is and the proposal. As an anti-Instagram-worthy type guy, how do you propose in 2026 when you\u2019re against all that splashy sh*t? For us, it all felt like a journey, I didn\u2019t feel like we overindulged. I just wanted to go on that journey, I didn\u2019t want to do it too quickly. I think the audience is really invested in the process.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: Part of that ring comedic storyline was the accidental voice message Celina sent her boyfriend Rodge indicating that she was expecting a proposal from him. It was all a big misunderstanding that the two cleared up and obviously she\u2019s young but do you think that may manifest itself, with them considering marriage for real?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: I don\u2019t think so. I mean, she\u2019s still super young, they all are in that group. I think it\u2019s too soon, they\u2019re just dating. They like each other a lot, but every relationship doesn\u2019t need to be serious. We have a lot of couples on our show, and I\u2019m conscious of that for sure. So yeah, it was just another romcom moment. <\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: Speaking of romcom moments, we have to save Tim and Lucy first but when that\u2019s done, is there a wedding in the plans for Season 9? Any kind of wedding?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: To be honest, I\u2019m not 100% sure what it would look like. We\u2019ve obviously done a lot of weddings. We\u2019re lucky enough to now, going into Season 9, have done varying versions of weddings, whether they\u2019re off-camera, whether they\u2019re interrupted by being taken by La Fiera, whether they\u2019re successful, like the 100th episode with Nolan and Bailey, we\u2019ve done a lot of them.<\/p>\n \n\tSo I\u2019m always trying to figure out a fresh way in to stuff, and I don\u2019t have it yet. I think what\u2019s safe to say is that it needs to be satisfying. What that means? I don\u2019t know yet. I would never just shortchange it but I don\u2019t know. We got to figure it out.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018The Rookie\u2019: Deric Augustine as Miles, Lisseth Chavez as Celina<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Mike Taing<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tDEADLINE: Are any main cast members leaving? Richard T. Jones\u2019 Grey was pondering his post-task force future in the Season 8 finale. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: No, we\u2019re status quo. We like everybody, we\u2019re making it work. Richard is a hugely important piece of the puzzle of our show.\u00a0Part of early writers room for Season 9 is going to be figuring out exactly what Grey\u2019s next chapter is that feels like growth.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: <\/strong>What about cast additions? Your only current rookie Miles didn\u2019t graduate in the finale.<\/strong><\/em>..<\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: But he will. Going into Season 9, he won\u2019t be a rookie anymore.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: That\u2019s what I was getting at. A show called <\/em>The Rookie needs to have at least one rookie at any time.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: You are not wrong, it\u2019s true. What that looks like is another thing we got to figure out. As we\u2019ve talked about before, a rookie is always an opportunity to serve two stories. One is, who that person is, and then how that person affects everyone around them, especially their training officer. So I think that\u2019ll be part of the thing.<\/p>\n \n\tObviously we\u2019ve had rookies that have flamed out quickly before. Greg Grunberg fired his gun at roll call, on morning one. We had a great episode where Katy O\u2019Brian, before she blew up, we were lucky enough to get her, and I thought her episode was really great with Tim. So, there\u2019s always a possibility what we start with might not be the whole season. <\/p>\n \n\tThere\u2019s still some stuff to figure out but you\u2019re not wrong. Going into Season 9, we would need a new rookie, at least one. I want to figure that out.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: What about drone kid, Dash? I checked the LAPD requirements, I think he\u2019s a little too young to be a rookie. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: That\u2019s true, you\u2019ve got to be 21.<\/p>\n \n\tDEADLINE: Is his arc done?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: I don\u2019t know. I think he\u2019s a fun flavor on the show. We\u2019re lucky, after eight seasons and 144 episodes, we\u2019ve had a lot of great characters on our show. I would love to see Tamara back next season. We didn\u2019t get to her this season but I like her on our show. A lot of it is about balancing storyline. If there\u2019s stories to tell, we\u2019ll bring people back.<\/p>\n \n\tHAWLEY<\/strong>: I\u2019m really proud of Season 8. I do feel like every season of the show is different in varying ways. I think the freedom we have, just by not being a straight-up procedural, does allow us to grow and change and try different things. <\/p>\n \n\tSo going into Season 9, I need to figure out what that looks like next season. What does the ninth season look like that the other ones didn\u2019t? I do think the show has gotten more and more cinematic over the years, which I appreciate. We are more ambitious, we do take some bigger swings. So, going into Season 9 is just like, What haven\u2019t we done before, and how do we keep the show fresh? Because I do think that\u2019s one of our strengths. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-deadline-2019\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.jpg\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tThe Return Of Liam Glasser\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tOscar On Pause, Other OG Villains Activated\t<\/h2>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tMalcolm & Wesley: Surprising Bedfellows \t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tMonica\u2019s Redemption\t<\/h2>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tNolan\u2019s Nightmare Turned Reality\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tRing Shenanigans, Wedding Bells Next? \t<\/h2>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tGrey\u2019s Future & Rookie Recruitment\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tFinal S8 Thoughts & S9 Priorities\t<\/h2>\n