The last time we checked in on how things were going with the 2025-debuting seventh season of series creator Alexi Hawley’s Nathan Fillion, Eric Winter, and Melissa O’Neil-starring The Rookie, Winter was discussing how the prospect of his Tim Bradford and O’Neil’s Lucy Chen eventually becoming romantically involved was something he “never” expected and how he credited the fans for both making “Chenford” happen and for making the show a success. So it seems somewhat fitting that this update would revisit Winter and O’Neil – and that’s because they were both kind enough to check in from filming on social media.
“Out on these streets in the heat puttin’ in that pod car work! Little BTS on what it looks like to the real world,” Winter shared as the caption to an Instagram post that included some looks behind the scenes at filming:
“I love my job. Feels strange to even call it that. So happy to be back with friends that feel like family. We’ve been cooking in the heat these last few days in LA, but everyone’s keeping good spirits. 🤗” O’Neil wrote as the caption to her Instagram post that included a selfie of her in what appeared to be tactical gear. “Tonight – we’re watching the US Presidential debate with everyone at basecamp right now… 😮💨 Head on a swivel, friends! How are you doing?”
“At the top of January, we have ‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,’ which is one of the big live events of the broadcast season and provides tremendous promotional opportunity, so we’re going to use that for ‘The Rookie’ and ‘Will Trent,’ both shows which continue to grow and are true darlings of both ABC and the audience. We have a lot of college sports and holiday programs on during December, so that adds to the megaphone that we can use to to shout out about ‘Will Trent’ and ‘The Rookie’ being back on. And additionally, and as importantly, having them come on in January will allow them to have uninterrupted runs where they can continue to gather momentum with a huge swatch of original episodes,” shared Craig Erwich, president of Disney Television Group, back in May – explaining how the move to midseason could benefit the series and how the network would go the synergy route to promote the show’s Season 7 return.