The cast of The Rookie started work on Season 7 weeks ago with some behind-the-scenes pics to prove it, but one series regular from Season 6 won't be back when the action picks back up. Tru Valentino, who has been playing Aaron Thorsen since Season 4 and had been a series regular since Season 5, will not be back. While there's still a long wait before the cop drama will be back on NBC, it's already worth wondering if and how losing Aaron will affect the aftermath of the sixth season finale cliffhangers.
News that Tru Valentino won't be back for Season 7 comes courtesy of TVLine. The Rookie had already cast a pair of new characters for the new season – which won't premiere until after the end of the 2024 TV schedule after being bumped back to premiere in 2025 alongside Will Trent – with Deric Augustine and Patrick Keleher as new officers, but it had not been confirmed at the time that a regular was leaving as they joined.
Given that Season 6 ended on both a potentially life-or-death cliffhanger for Nolan and Bailey as well as an emotional cliffhanger for Lucy and Tim, fans may be a bit stressed about changes happening over hiatus. Jenna Dewan being absent from the first few episodes already means that the resolution of the Nolan/Bailey cliffhanger may be complicated unless Dewan and Nathan Fillion already filmed an extra scene at the end of Season 6.
As it happens, Aaron wasn't key to either of the cliffhangers from back in the spring, which is a big departure from Season 5 ending with Tru Valentino's character possibly being killed off. It might not actually be too complicated to write the character out between seasons, although I'd expect some fallout with Celina. Lisseth Chavez is set to return for Season 7, and the Celina/Aaron dynamic got tricky around the 100th episode.
At the time of writing, no details are available about how The Rookie will say goodbye to Aaron, and that may not change for some time thanks to the show not returning until midseason 2025. Tru Valentino has not yet commented, and I don't want to get my hopes up too high that the actor will make at least a cameo in Season 7 for a proper sendoff.
That said, I am going to hope that there's a better reason for his exit than how Mercedes Mason and Titus Makin were written out. Mason's Captain Zoe Andersen was the show's first key character to be killed off, and then Makin's Officer Jackson West was unceremoniously murdered in the Season 4 premiere. However The Rookie explains Aaron's absence with Valentino gone from the cast, my fingers are just crossed that it doesn't involve tragedy.
Until we know differently, it's always possible that Valentino could come back as a guest star or to recur. Unfortunately, the very earliest that The Rookie could return is January following ABC's decision to hold Season 7 for midseason 2025. In the meantime, you can always revisit the first six seasons streaming with a Hulu subscription.
