The Rookie Season 7 finally premiered on the 2025 TV schedule at the start of the year, and it’s been bringing on some new characters while saying goodbye to old ones. In the premiere, fans learned where Tru Valentino’s Aaron Thorsen went (the North Hollywood division). There's also a new detective at Mid-Wilshire, who has been a fun obstacle for Wesley. Most recently, viewers were treated to the return of Lucy’s college friend, Rachel Hall, and I’ve always wondered why they wrote her out. Turns out the EP had a good reason.
Jasmine Matthews' Rachel was introduced amid The Rookie's second season and soon began seeing Tim. While they dated for much of the season, not without complications, Rachel landed her dream job in New York. Despite trying to make a long-distance relationship work, the two split. Considering Rachel had a lot of promise as a character and maintained good relationship swith both Lucy and Tim, I was surprised she was written out so suddenly. Creator Alexi Hawley told TVLine just why she left and, as I just learned, some logistics were involved:
Jasmine [Mathews], who plays Rachel, was such a great addition to the show, but she was super busy, so part of the reason that Rachel went away [at the end of Season 2], at least for us, was to try and get ahead of Jasmine being unavailable to us.
Scheduling can definitely be a big complication when it comes to Hollywood productions. As far as TV goes, it can cause major shakeups within casts. As much as I didn't want to see Rachel leave The Rookie, I can understand the producers wanting to usher the character out before Jasmine Matthews likely opted to leave on her own. Had the creative team not gotten ahead of the situation, it's possible that Matthews could've asked to leave at a time that was more inopportune.
What I also appreciated is that Rachel was written out in a manner that wasn't tragic. Surely, that also made it easier to bring her back to the show as the producers pleased.
Season 7, Episode 3, “Out of Pocket,” saw Rachel surprising Lucy at Mid-Wilshire five years after her departure to tell her that she lost her job and apartment in New York. With that, Lucy allowed Rachel to temporarily room with her. Rachel also reconciled with Tim, but the two are remaining platonic. Alexi Hawley talked more about Rachel's return and opting not to keep things civil Chenford fans deal with Lucy and Tim's breakup:
I was always looking for a way to bring her back. With Tim and Lucy broken up, it felt like a good opportunity to do that — but not to do the expected, which is to make it a love triangle. I thought that would ultimately be manipulative to the fans in a way that I don’t like to be. … But as somebody who ultimately ended up ghosting the two of them [Tim and good friend Lucy], is there more there to find out in later episodes? There is. So that was really what it was about. It seemed like a good opportunity to stir the pot a bit, but also to get Jasmine back on the show.
Tim and Lucy already have enough on their plate with their breakup, and fans (myself included) are eager for a Chenford reconciliation. So it would be harsh to have Tim not only get back together with an ex but also someone who is longtime friends with Lucy. Since the two have a unique bond that isn’t diminishing even with their breakup, the hope is that they will get back together later down the line and, hopefully, that will be soon.
All of that aside, it’s unknown just how many episodes Jasmine Matthews will be appearing in, but it sounds like this could be just the beginning of a new chapter for Rachel. See how everything plays out when new episodes of The Rookie air on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. You can also stream them the next day with a Hulu subscription.
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