For The Rookie’s #Chenford, the ‘Heat Is Rising’ in Season 7 Promo — 2025 FIRST LOOK (Exclusive)
This installment of TVLine’s month-long #2025FirstLook series wishes #Chenford fans a very merry, slightly early Christmas, by way of a provocative and exclusive peek at The Rookie‘s new Season 7 promo.
When last we tuned into the light ABC procedural, Officer Lucy Chen (played by Melissa O’Neil) and Sergeant Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) were still quite broken up as a couple, and the latter was well aware of some work he still needed to do on himself to be worthy of Lucy’s trust, let alone love.
“You will ever know how much I appreciate the kindness you’ve shown me,” Tim shared in a season-ending, instantly iconic #Chenford elevator scene. “And I will spend the rest of my life trying to pay it back in whatever small doses you’ll allow.”
Well, to look at the exclusive promo above, those “small doses” might start adding up — to a degree that even Lucy is seen half-heartedly saying to a shirtless Tim, “We shouldn’t….”
“We really wanted to come into this season with positivity about Tim and Lucy,” The Rookie showrunner Alexi Hawley said as part of TVLine’s in-depth Season 7 preview Q&A.
“They did do a lot of work, Tim especially, at the end of last season,” Hawley reminded. “It did feel like they were coming back together in a way that was at least positive, so it was important to roll into this season going, ‘OK, we’re onto the next chapter — what does that look like?’”
To start, that next chapter will in part take the former of a fun wager that #Chenford make in the season premiere (airing Tuesday, Jan. 7, now at 10/9c), as they break in rookies Miles and Seth (played by recurring guest stars Deric Augustine and Patrick Keleher).
That side bet “allows us to play the banter, the chemistry, the competition between them that has been baked in since the beginning,” Hawley previews.
