Eric Winter and Melissa O'Neil in 'The Rookie' season eight finale. Disney/Mike Taing Logo text Eric Winter, who plays Tim Bradford in ABC‘s The Rookie, has revealed that the cast filmed an alternate ending to season eight in case the show was canceled.
In the last episode’s final moments, which aired in May, Tim proposes to Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil). However, the newly engaged couple are kidnapped minutes later.
While chatting with People at Comic-Con 2026 over the weekend, Winter said, “We didn’t know when we wrapped last season if we would ever come back.”
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Due to the uncertainty about the show’s future at the time, he explained, “We even shot an alternate ending to the show” that “would’ve been different.” However, Winter didn’t offer any details about the alternate ending, as it would be a “spoiler.”
ABC officially announced that The Rookie had been renewed for a ninth season in April. It didn’t come as a big surprise, as the police procedural is a high performer for ABC, ranking in the top 15 network entertainment series among adults 18-49.
“Anytime we find out we have another season with this great group of people, it’s an exciting time,” Winter said of the renewal news.
When chatting with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of season eight, O’Neil shared her reaction to the way fans ride or die over Tim and Lucy’s onscreen relationship, aka Chenford.
“It’s one of those special things that I think you can write for it as much as you want, but unless all of the right elements and spices kind of come into play, it might not work. So I feel really grateful,” she said. “He’s a wonderful professional scene partner to have, and all of the material that we’ve been given is special. But we have a good friendship and a chemistry that I think parlays really well into the relationship, especially because we started off not only with a power dynamic, but there was a little bit of … we chirp each other.”
The Rookie also stars Nathan Fillion, Alyssa Diaz, Richard T. Jones, Mekia Cox, Shawn Ashmore, Jenna Dewan and Lisseth Chavez. Season nine is expected to premiere in early 2027.
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