\u201cOh, wow,\u201d was Winter\u2019s reaction when asked by Deadline about the prospect of marriage for Chenford at a promotional event for his Palm Republic Rum.<\/p>\n
\u201cTim and Lucy are definitely still building in a positive way,\u201d he added about the direction of their relationship. \u201cThey\u2019ve overcome a ton and I think what we\u2019re going to see throughout the season is how they continue to navigate this work-life balance. I would say they\u2019re getting to a really good place in their relationship, there\u2019s some positive movement in a direction that I think they\u2019re seeing each other, obviously they moved in with each other. So what I can say is that they\u2019re in a really positive place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Could that eventually lead to nuptials?<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like that would be a natural progression for them,\u201d Winter said. \u201cI think Tim has learned from his mistakes. He\u2019s in it for the long haul, and wants to build a future, and sees that future. Will he get the courage to do it is one thing, and to dive back in with somebody at work to that level and take it to the next step, I think, is something he\u2019ll wrestle with. But I think he\u2019s excited to consider that for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following his promotion to Watch Commander, Tim has been largely stuck at the station. We saw him back in the field in the most recent March 16 episode, in which he joined Lucy on patrol during her first day back after accidentally killing a man who had been turned into a crazed attacker by toxic chemicals.<\/p>\n
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That won\u2019t be his last ride this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood thing for Tim right now is, the first half of the season, he was learning this new role as Watch Commander, which took him out of the heat, off the streets, which, for Bradford, is a very tough thing,\u201d Winter said. \u201cI don\u2019t think he navigates that world the way Sergeant Grey did, so the rest of the season, we\u2019re going to see him come to a solution and getting back on the streets. How does he do it more regularly, and throw him back in the action, juggling that with Lucy, everything that she just went through, is going be a big part of their story going forward, obviously, with his mom in the mix now too, whether that builds in the relationship or holds it back, is going to be fun to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Led by 50-something Nathan Fillion, The Rookie has become an unlikely viral hit, with its popularity among teens exploding. Winter, a father of two, including a teenage daughter, is well aware of that and the devoted following his character as well as Chenford have on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh god, it\u2019s crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it started \u2014 and I have a 14-year-old right in the mix of all this \u2014 on Tiktok. The LA Times just released something that we were the most watched show of any network show for the young demo. Tiktok, without a question, has contributed to that young demo.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a family show, we give great stories with action, heartfelt. You get everything in one stop, but the romances, the relationships, I think, is what the young generation is really grabbing onto.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there are a ton of Chenford fans at that young age that have flags, calendars, and all these things in their houses; they\u2019re just obsessed with; it\u2019s almost as if Tim and Lucy are like a Ross and Rachel from Friends. I will say this, one of my nieces, who\u2019s in her early 20s, she was like, this is our generation\u2019s Grey\u2019s Anatomy. It\u2019s got these relationships moments that these younger kids can relate to, and they think it\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think the complexity of Tim and Lucy is what\u2019s really been strong in that demo. Because everybody else [on The Rookie] is married, everybody\u2019s got kids. So what does the young demo see, they see these two people at work, that they\u2019re together, they\u2019re not together, trying to make it work. There\u2019s too many problems, and it\u2019s fun and juicy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winter and the rest of The Rookie cast have been leaning into that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in our business, fans are everything,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you have a movie, who\u2019s going to go to that movie? You need these people supporting you, any fan, any age, supporting you. I don\u2019t ever shy away from greeting fans, addressing the fans, letting them be as involved as they want to be in The Rookie or what\u2019s going on in my career. They\u2019ve been what\u2019s helping me get to where I\u2019m at. I think we all see it that way, Nathan\u2019s like that, the cast like that. We really embrace this young generation that\u2019s found this. It\u2019s been pretty cool. It\u2019s a shock, yeah, I get blown away every time I go out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rookie original episodes air Mondays at 10 PM on ABC and next day on Hulu. The series has not been renewed for Season 9 yet but that is very likely<\/a> given the show\u2019s streaming success.<\/p>\n Best of Deadline<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Deadline’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For several years now, The Rookie fans have been enthralled by the slow-burn romance between show\u2019s most popular…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[265],"tags":[40442,18,117,180860,19,17,47376,180863,180862,114941,180861,128,28304],"class_list":["post-397779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-deadline","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-eric-winter","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lucy","tag-lucy-chen","tag-melissa-oneil","tag-the-rookie","tag-tim-bradford","tag-tv","tag-winter"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116271565278874214","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}