THE ROOKIE Post-Mortem: Lisseth Chavez on the Seth Reveal, the Future of Celina and Rodge, and Working with a Raccoon

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Tuesday, March 18 episode of THE ROOKIE.]

THE ROOKIE’s Seth (Patrick Keleher) officially reached the end of his time in the training program.

After the rookie spent months seemingly telling lies about his personal and medical history, his training officer, Lucy (Melissa O’Neil), finally had a way to figure out what was going on, concretely, with backup from Grey (Richard T. Jones) and Tim (Eric Winter): Request Seth take a blood test to prove he was actually being treated for cancer. If he refused, or the results came back to show his blood work was normal/cancer-free, he’d lose his spot in the LAPD training program.

Seth refused the test, threatening to sue the department, effectively ending his time as a rookie. But with Seth gone, what will it mean for the officers in the aftermath of his departure?

“It’s a little disappointing, just to get so far, only to be let go for just not being honest and not being trustworthy,” Lisseth Chavez, who plays Celina, tells Give Me My Remote in the video below. “And I feel like also seeing [this is] happening also to my roommate[, Lucy]…it’s her first time T.O.-ing. So it’s almost like there’s already a lot of pressure in trying to fill in those shoes and make sure that you’re preparing someone to be like the best version of themselves. And, unfortunately, it was sad to see that he just kept [up]—it was lie after lie after lie. And I can’t imagine being partners with someone you can’t trust. So I think…it was a heavy, and I’m sure tough, decision to make.”

Though there’s still one more rookie in the mix—Miles (Deric Augustine)—Chavez acknowledges that “we don’t really get to see how [Seth’s departure] affects Celina,” she says. “But I guess the story that I’m telling myself, it does. It affects Lucy, so it affects me.”

Celina spent much of “Chaos Agent” trying to help her new boyfriend, Rodge (Zander Hawley), figure out who might have vandalized his music studio. By the end of the hour, Celina suggested Rodge reconsider how he approaches music (perhaps less biting, for instance)…and the duo seemed to be in a good place.

“Expect to see more Rodge,” Chavez teases. “Yeah, I’m excited to explore Celina being in a relationship this season. He’s amazing, and…yes, expect to see more of Rodge.”

Celina also got an unexpected win: After a raccoon terrorized the precinct (and locked Miles in the back of a car), she was able to usher the creature into its cage.

“I feel like I went through a roller coaster of emotions,” she says. “I was excited to work with my first on-set pet, or on-set actor animal. But it was also scary. I’m not gonna lie. I feel like the closer it got, I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s gonna attack me!’”

“I think they had a total of three different raccoons, and they make these funny noises,” she continues. “I was like, how often am I close to a raccoon? But it was to be around them. But…having to get a raccoon to go into the cage, that was a little challenging, a little challenging. But as far as storytelling, Celina did it with a breeze…I took a picture with the fake one. There’s a fake raccoon; I don’t think I could get close to the real one. I didn’t realize…I was thinking, ‘Am I scared of raccoons?’ But it was fun working with the raccoon!”

THE ROOKIE, Tuesdays, 9/8c, ABC

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