[This story contains spoilers for The Rookie season eight, episode one, titled “Czech Mate.”]
Running, jumping and falling is nothing new to Melissa O’Neil after eight seasons on The Rookie.
The 37-year-old actress, who got her start in entertainement after winning Canadian Idol in 2005, says it was a natural transition for her into theater and later television, eventually landing her role as Lucy Chen on the ABC police procedural crime drama.
Like any cop show, there’s chaos at every corner, and it’s no different for The Rookie. But this show, which centers on the lives of LAPD officers, also dives deep into the personal lives of the characters, which is something O’Neil truly appreciates.
“One of the ways I think that this season is a little different from the other ones is we really feel that everybody in the show this season gets a moment and we really dive deeply,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter of season eight, which premiered Tuesday. “Last year, we said, ‘Oh, we’re going to go home with every single character.’ I think that was a mistake to say that because this season we dive deeply into people’s personal lives while absolute chaos is happening around us.”
Below, O’Neil opens up about how she’s grown with her character, Lucy, and where she stands on Team Chenford and teases the rest of The Rookie season eight. She also looks back at her start with music and whether she would revisit that world again.
After getting your start in music, winning Canadian Idol, what made you want to later pursue a career as an actor?
I’ve always been a theater kid at heart. And at the same time, I never knew that this was even something you could do for a living. My mom is from China, and we were definitely one of those houses that was paycheck to paycheck every month. And so I kind of thought the only job I really saw was working in the mall or being a teacher. And I was like, “Oh, I’m going to be a teacher. That’s great.” So when I was always hooping and hollering in the basement, as far as my parents were concerned, I was singing. And that [Canadian] Idol audition came around and I went to go do it. I didn’t even know that you could make money doing that. So transitioning from that and naturally just being a hustler and being like, “OK, how am I going to pay my bills now?” And I got an audition for theater and it rolled from one thing into another out of necessity, I got to be completely honest, and I also loved it. But it really was something that the wins were at my back, pushing me along very much so.
Turning to The Rookie season eight, you’ve been playing Lucy Chen for quite some time now. Do you feel like you fully understand her as a character at this point, or are you still unlocking new things about her?
I am not the master behind the pen, so I am definitely always unlocking new things. That doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion about who I have come to know who she is, but there are many times where I am very surprised by the script or by what Alexi [Hawley] is saying. As someone with a lot of opinions, sometimes I’ll be pushing back, and it’s not often, but sometimes there will be something in the script where I feel, based off of what I know about her emotional intelligence and what we have already established her to be in relation to others, I’ll push back and say, “Shouldn’t we … ? Don’t you think that maybe. .. ?” And Alexi, he’s collaborative, but he’ll hold a hard line. A lot of this stuff, our writers are really smart and they layer in a lot of things that will pay off further down the line.
Obviously, fans love Lucy and Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) together, aka Chenford, so what do you make of the way people ride or die over that onscreen relationship?
Eric and I were talking about this the other day, and it’s one of those special things that I think you can write for it as much as you want, but unless all of the right elements and spices kind of come into play, it might not work. So I feel really grateful. He’s a wonderful professional scene partner to have, and all of the material that we’ve been given is special. But we have a good friendship and a chemistry that I think parlays really well into the relationship, especially because we started off not only with a power dynamic, but there was a little bit of … we chirp each other. We know how to be in relation on a team, and I think that energy that exists in real life between us lends itself really well to a dynamic that has a bunch of people in uniform, because that is real. They’re chirping each other all the time. They’re giving each other a hard time and it also creates a sense of comfort and intimacy.
Are you personally Team Chenford?
I’m along for the ride. Gosh, I think at one point, especially earlier on in the seasons, we were pushing really hard. We’re like, “Let’s go #Chenford.” And now that it’s kind of taken on a life of its own, we definitely are in the backseat going, “I wonder what’s going to happen.” But I know where it’s going this season, and I think people are going to be shocked, but not unsatisfied. That’s a good way to say it.
Chenford fans are definitely going to go through the emotions in the first episode, from them not speaking at first, to getting back together, to then that teaser that Lt. Grey (Richard T. Jones) might recommend Tim as the new lieutenant, complicating their relationship again. What were you thinking when you first read the script for this first episode?
Probably the same type of trepidation that everybody else feels or rather how you were feeling in that moment, just a sense of, “I hope this goes well and that everyone is still happy.” Because we are hip to the reception. It is rather loud and everybody’s opinions are large, but at the end of the day, our writers, we trust them and their main goal is to deliver a fantastic story. And so in this way, I don’t think anyone’s going to be let down, even if it gives people PTSD.
I know Lucy has had many ups and downs over the seasons, but seeing her now as a sergeant and seeing her growth and success, how does that make you feel as the actor playing her? Do you feel like you’re also growing with her?
Yes, I absolutely feel like I’m growing with Lucy. A big part of that is that I am being called in to perform things that I didn’t even have the skill set to perform myself as a person just living in the world. So it’s demanding that I go out and learn things so that I can do my job properly. But at the same time, it’s really exciting because even though this wasn’t my first television job, it was my first U.S. television job, my first time on a really big show. And I do feel like I’ve grown with her. And to see her kind of mature into a self-assuredness, I do feel a reflection in that way. We are growing in different ways, certainly, but the parallels are a little bit insane.
But I’m grateful to say that some of the stuff that Lucy goes through in this season I will not be going through in my real life, thank goodness. But she’s really tested and finds herself in situations that really expand her capacity and test her emotional intelligence. And I’m really excited to see how people receive it because it’s a different color from Lucy than we’ve seen. Because as much as she’s been through, there’s a sense of levity and joy that is … You can’t disturb it. And it’s a little different this season.
I know this show is also quite demanding physically, so can you talk about what goes into your preparations for all the action scenes? And do you enjoy the physical element of the show?
I love it. My first television job, I was a space captain. I was a space captain on this show called Dark Matter, and we did a ton of stunts, a ton, and they were all in three-inch heels. So I really love doing stunts now in flat runners in a uniform, but it is wonderful. I’m recently emerging out of this pretty intense period of time in my personal life where I wasn’t able to attend to my physical needs as much. And in the last two years, I’ve just been diving in and it feels so good. So not only have I been doing stunt driving training, I did that last year, which was so badass and so fun. My favorite stunt was they had a pylon and you have to come at it full speed, hit the e-brake and do a 180 and land your license plate right on the pylon. It’s really, really fun.
Can you tease what fans can expect for the rest of season eight and what you’re looking forward to most?
It is a chaotic season. One of the ways I think that this season is a little different from the other ones is we really feel that everybody in the show this season gets a moment and we really dive deeply. Last year, we said, “Oh, we’re going to go home with every single character.” I think that was a mistake to say that because this season we dive deeply into people’s personal lives while absolute chaos is happening around us. And I didn’t expect it to get so personal and intimate with so many different people’s home lives. And I think the things I can tease that I’m really excited for people to see for Lucy’s story is that as Alexi has already teased, so it’s not a spoiler, we do indeed go undercover again. I don’t want to say too much about that because it’s absolutely epic. And then the next sequence that feels really significant for Lucy’s character development that I can’t wait for people to see was written and directed by our showrunner, Alexi, and it’s episode 10.
Getting your start as a teen in the entertainment industry, with winning Canadian Idol in 2005, how did that impact your transition to acting and the way you view success in the entertainment industry?
Something I figured out very early on when I was doing theater, and this came from because I was doing music at such an early age, it’s very uncomfortable being 17 and being the centerpiece and the forefront most aspect of something that a team of people are selling. And I think at the time I was very uncomfortable with it. And when I had the opportunity to audition for and then be a part of so many exceptional theater productions, I was like, “I love being in an ensemble.” And because I entered that world so early, I didn’t have any post-secondary education around this, but that became my education.
I think sometimes in television, people can kind of like move around a little bit as far as their orientation to the work, but in theater, it’s so competitive that you got to take this stuff seriously. And I think that really informed the way that I orient myself to television. At this point, I hope to be a journeyman. I love this work. I love being a part of a team. And one day I could see myself being a little bit more forefront, but I know when to be a part of the group and I know when to step forward. And I think that’s a part of existing in an ensemble situation. It reminds me of singing, actually. You need to know when to take lead vocal and you need to know how to blend. It’s a part of being a good singer.
Since music was such a large part of your life growing up, do you see yourself ever returning to it in the future?
I have for so long pushed that so far away and I got my itch anyways because I was doing theater and it’s been kind of a funny sidebar having a whole younger generation discover the show, The Rookie, and then getting really interested in learning more about the actors and them doing that has led them to find all of this other stuff, including my album. And there’s been this whole resurgence. Sometimes people tag me, I’m like their No. 1 on Spotify Wrapped. I’m like, “What’s going on? This album is like 20 years old.” So that’s wild.
I have a dear friend that we have been delaying a collaboration, and it is certainly one of my goals to step back into that space, if for no other reason, because I have resistance to it. And when I have resistance to things, I like to investigate. I’m like, “Why am I trying to shy away from this?”
If you had to describe what makes Melissa O’Neil, Melissa O’Neil, what would you say?
I would say that what makes me me is a pretty wildly neurodivergent person who’s committed to living fully and showing up for the people I love as best I can and trying to expand what that is pretty much all the time. And very job focused. There’s not a lot that I will compromise for it (Laughs). And I got a lot of people who can attest to that.