THE ROOKIE Post-Mortem: Alexi Hawley on Bailey’s Secret, Tim’s Closure, Wesley’s Next Step, and More

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Sunday, December 12 episode.]

After spending much of the season under the thumb of Elijah (Brandon Jay McLaren), Wesley (Shawn Ashmore) got an unlikely assist in the fall finale of THE ROOKIE.

Though Elijah discovered Wesley had teamed up with the LAPD to try and find proof of his crimes, Elijah had his own proof that Wesley had violated his ethical duties as a lawyer. But, on the bright side, the physical threat to Wesley seems to have ceased as Abril (Gigi Zumbado) made her presence known to Elijah, who backed off.

Abril connected with Lopez (Alyssa Diaz), and the duo agreed to, essentially, leave each other alone: As long as Lopez stayed away from Abril and let her live her life, Lopez’s family would be safe.

But that wasn’t the only drama in store for the characters. Though it was slightly less terrify stakes, Nolan (Nathan Fillion) spent much of the hour debating whether he was ready to pop the question to new girlfriend Bailey (Jenna Dewan)—and realizing she hadn’t even officially met his son yet—and instead worked up the courage to tell her he was in love with her.

However, Nolan’s declaration was ruined when Bailey was surprised by a face from her past: Jason (Steve Kazee), her previously-unmentioned husband.

So what comes next? THE ROOKIE showrunner Alexi Hawley offers a few teases…

Bailey is married! At what point did you know this was a part of the character’s backstory and how will it play into things going forward?
Full disclosure, it wasn’t there from the genesis. I think as we started to get into why does she have issues with intimacy, why does she run away from it, why does she basically blow up relationships, that this was where we ended up as the most dramatically interesting thing to do with her. But also to not to spoil too much, [there are] ultimately some very complicated and emotional stakes to why this guy is still in her life and why she didn’t disclose it.

To clarify, are they legally married or is this just someone who considers them married?
Yes, they are still legally married. We’ll discover she was unable to get a divorce from him, that he was a bit of a nightmare—or more than a bit of a nightmare. There are some issues in how she sees herself with him. There’s reasons, emotionally, why she didn’t bring it up to Nolan even though obviously she should have.

Steve and Jenna have an obvious off-screen connection. Was he part of the genesis of the character or did that come later into the development?
It came a little later. I just thought it’d be really fun. Steve is such talented actor and we’ve loved having Jenna on the show. And it just seemed like a really fun thing to do: “Hey, how would your guy feel about coming in to play a bit of a psychopath?” And he was totally into it. So it was great. And so they got to really spend some time [filming together], which was fun for them.

Is he a singing psychopath, though?
No, sadly, no singing.

Nolan seemed to be moving pretty fast with Bailey, and it appeared he was on the verge of proposing. How clear is he about this relationship, in your mind, or is he just swept up in the emotions right now?
He wasn’t actually going to propose in that moment. I think the big step for him was telling her that he was in love with her. I still think he needed to get a ring, I still think he needed to get all that kind of stuff.

So we tried to live more in the [notion] that he was exploring the idea of [proposing], and then it was like, “I need to talk to my son about it,” which was a fun little thing for the episode.

But I think he knows. I mean, I think he’s serious. And I think that this chemistry with her and how he feels about her is just different than it was with Sarah Shahi and Ali Larter and all that kind of stuff. I mean, the reality is, this is a guy who was married for 20 years. We have to remember that even though it’s four seasons in, his rookie year just ended. So within that year, year and a half, he started dating again for the first time in almost his adult life. And so those first few relationships are just the kind of relationships that, in theory, you have after a divorce, where you’re just getting back out there, and all that kind of stuff. So I think Bailey is the first really serious relationship he’s had since his marriage.

Tim got a bit of closure with his abusive father, and there were a number of powerful scenes where he wanted to make it clear how different the two men were. What was important for you to showcase in that reunion?
Ultimately, what I wanted to do with that storyline is not round the edges off of his pain or off of how his father was. I mean, ultimately, there was closure, not necessarily with his father, but more with his sister, and the fact that they had different experiences with their father and his abuse growing up. And in some ways, that drove a wedge between them. His sister had less of a bad relationship [with their dad], and so has been able to forgive more.

And so that’s what was really important, I think, was to not round the edges off his relationship with his dad; his dad was abusive, it was not okay. And there’s no expectation that Tim is to forgive his father, or make his peace with it. Tim does not owe his father that…he’s not walking away with [them being reunited]. And to get James Remar to come play his father was a dream, and they were so really powerful together. And Eric [Winter] is such a great actor. Sometimes you just write it and get out of the way.

What does getting that glimpse into Tim’s backstory mean for his relationship with Lucy, who was by his side for much of it?
I obviously know that the Chenfords want to put them together, romantically, but I do think that what we are getting by not doing that is an intimacy that is much greater, than, in theory, you might get if we just threw them into bed, to be on the nose about it. You have to remember, they started in a place where Tim was her training officer and was super hard on her, and was not going to befriend [her]; it’s not his job to be friends with her. So she has to even earn a place of camaraderie with him.

And so now, obviously, we’ve gone past that, they both had super emotional moments together. He was part of rescuing her when she was taken. And he helped her come to terms with with the aftereffects of that. And she’s now gone through this with him. So I think it’s all really enriching their relationship in a really powerful way.

Wesley has been in danger most of the season due to his decision to go to Elijah to help save Lopez. Is that storyline over for now?
It’s not fully closed. I mean, there’s still going to be repercussions for Wesley for the ethical breaches that he had as a lawyer. It’s been important to us from the beginning—but especially going through the last season and all the hard conversations we had about policing and all of that—to not let people get off the hook for behavior; that there are consequences. And that’s important to show that. So, yeah, Wesley did cross the lines. And so we explore what the effect of that is going forward.

Is he physically safe, though?
I think it’s fair to say that the Elijah threat has now been neutralized.

Just to check, are Wesley and Lopez married now? Or are they referring to each other as spouses and it just hasn’t been formalized yet.
Wesley and Lopez, they are legally married. It’s funny, because [fans have] seen photos from something that didn’t end up in an episode, which actually was them going to get married at City Hall. There were a few reasons why it didn’t end up in the cut. But yes, they’re married.

Ultimately, I felt like given the [last] wedding of it all, I wasn’t interested in doing that again. So yeah, they’re married.

Nyla made a big move to keep her daughter in town, but her ex is now pissed about it…and he broke up with his fiancée. Does she regret having to play dirty to keep her kid close?
She does have regrets on the other side. She was pushed to a place where she did something that she had to do to protect her daughter and her relationship with her daughter. And that’s a hard that’s a hard place to be.

But, you know, what I liked about the episode was Aaron being there, talking to her about not punishing herself. Because she really did punish herself for the rabbit hole she went down as an undercover officer. Her ex-husband is not wrong, that he raised their daughter almost by himself for a year or two. But it’s completely unfair, because for the last year, she’s actually been a great mom, and that chapter is behind her. I do think that he is punishing her a little bit for his own mistake. And I do think that he is being selfish, honestly. But relationships are complicated, divorces are complicated. I’m sure there is a lot of coming together, coming apart…former relationships are never easy.

THE ROOKIE, Sundays,10/9c, ABC

RELATED:

• THE ROOKIE: ‘Hit and Run’ Photos
• THE ROOKIE: ‘Fire Fight’ Photos
• THE ROOKIE: ‘Poetic Justice’ Photos
• THE ROOKIE Promotes Jenna Dewan
• THE ROOKIE: ‘A.C.H.’ Photos
• THE ROOKIE: ‘In the Line of Fire’ Photos
• THE ROOKIE: ‘Five Minutes’ Photos
• THE ROOKIE Season 4 Premiere: The Search for Lopez Takes an Unexpected Twist
• THE ROOKIE: What You Need to Know About the Season Premiere
• THE ROOKIE Season 4 Premiere: ‘Life and Death’ Photos
• THE ROOKIE Season 3 Finale Post-Mortem: Alexi Hawley on La Fiera’s ‘Retribution’
• THE ROOKIE: ‘Threshold’ Photos
• THE ROOKIE: Emily Deschanel to Guest Star as Nolan’s Ex-Wife
• THE ROOKIE: Frankie Muniz and Rainn Wilson to Guest Star in Docuseries Episode
• THE ROOKIE: What You Need to Know About the Season Premiere
• THE ROOKIE: Ali Larter is Open to a Season 3 Return
• THE ROOKIE Post-Mortem: Alexi Hawley on Nolan’s Potential Career-Jeopardizing Cliffhanger

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through links/ads placed on the site.