THE ROOKIE: Alexi Hawley Previews Rosalind’s Return, Plus Tim and Lucy Undercover

THE ROOKIE’s fifth season kicks off with a familiar old foe causing mayhem: Rosalind (Annie Wersching) is set to finally stand trial.

“Rosalind has always been a wildcard and she’s always been a master manipulator and is always sort of three steps ahead,” THE ROOKIE boss Alexi Hawley tells Give Me My Remote. “We’ve been leading up to this moment with the stories last season of Lucy trying to decide whether she was going to testify for Rosalind’s part in Caleb’s crimes. And the justice system does work this slow, so it was completely realistic that it would take this long for her to finally go to trial. It felt like a really organic way to sort of get into some great trouble at the beginning of season 5.”

As the cops in Los Angeles deal with Rosalind’s very particular brand of trouble, Bradford (Eric Winter) and Chen (Melissa O’Neil) continue their undercover gig, which takes the duo to Las Vegas. Of course, they’re also still trying to come to terms with their kiss from last season—done using the logic they needed practice to be a plausible UC couple.

“We left last season with quite the romantic cliffhanger—the kiss and what did it mean?” Hawley teases. “We need to lean into that coming into season 5; it wouldn’t be fair to the audience not to push forward and play it out. Keeping that undercover storyline going felt like an organic way to sort of blur the line, which is what allowed it to happen in the first place. And then, again, when the stakes are super high, what is that going to do? Is it going to push them closer together, especially when they’re alone together? So it felt like too good an opportunity to pass up.”

Speaking of opportunities too good to pass up, THE ROOKIE superfan Kelly Clarkson had the cast on the show for her birthday…and they invited her to appear on the show. And, yes, Hawley confirms it is indeed in the works.

“Obviously, Kelly Clarkson is going to show up at some point,” he says. “We’ve just been trying to work out schedules. But we’re very excited to have Kelly come play with us.”

When it happens, “we’ll have her play herself,” he continues. “I mean, the joy of being an LA cop show is that LA is full of Kelly Clarksons [and real-life celebrities]. We had Mario Lopez in season 1 and [so it’s] just the reality of celebrity in this town. We’ll have her play herself and just have a fun interaction with our guys.”

THE ROOKIE, Season Premiere, Sunday, September 25, 10/9c, ABC

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