{"id":225725,"date":"2026-01-07T17:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T17:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/225725\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T17:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T17:38:08","slug":"the-rookie-star-melissa-oneil-is-embracing-the-chaos-in-season-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/225725\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rookie Star Melissa O’Neil Is Embracing the Chaos in Season 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t[This story contains spoilers for The Rookie<\/a> season eight, episode one, titled \u201cCzech Mate.\u201d]<\/p>\n

\n\tRunning, jumping and falling is nothing new to Melissa O\u2019Neil after eight seasons on The Rookie.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 37-year-old actress, who got her start in entertainement after winning Canadian Idol\u00a0in 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tLike any cop show, there\u2019s chaos at every corner, and it\u2019s 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\u2019Neil truly appreciates.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOne 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,\u201d she tells The Hollywood Reporter of season eight, which premiered Tuesday. \u201cLast year, we said, \u2018Oh, we\u2019re going to go home with every single character.\u2019 I think that was a mistake to say that because this season we dive deeply into people\u2019s personal lives while absolute chaos is happening around us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, O\u2019Neil opens up about how she\u2019s 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<\/a> and whether she would revisit that world again.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter getting your start in music, winning Canadian Idol, what made you want to later pursue a career as an actor?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve 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, \u201cOh, I\u2019m going to be a teacher. That\u2019s great.\u201d 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\u2019t even know that you could make money doing that. So transitioning from that and naturally just being a hustler and being like, \u201cOK, how am I going to pay my bills now?\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tTurning to The Rookie season eight,\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0been 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?<\/p>\n

\n\tI am not the master behind the pen, so I am definitely always unlocking new things. That doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t 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\u2019ll be pushing back, and it\u2019s 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\u2019ll push back and say, \u201cShouldn\u2019t we \u2026 ? Don\u2019t you think that maybe. .. ?\u201d And Alexi, he\u2019s collaborative, but he\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tObviously,\u00a0fans love Lucy and Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) together, aka\u00a0Chenford, so what do you make of the way people ride or die over that onscreen relationship?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tEric and I were talking about this the other day, and it\u2019s 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\u2019s a wonderful professional scene partner to have, and all of the material that we\u2019ve 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 \u2026 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\u2019re chirping each other all the time. They\u2019re giving each other a hard time and it also creates a sense of comfort and intimacy.<\/p>\n

\n\tAre\u00a0you\u00a0personally Team\u00a0Chenford?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m along for the ride. Gosh, I think at one point, especially earlier on in the seasons, we were pushing really hard. We\u2019re like, \u201cLet\u2019s go #Chenford.\u201d And now that it\u2019s kind of taken on a life of its own, we definitely are in the backseat going, \u201cI wonder what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d But I know where it\u2019s going this season, and I think people are going to be shocked, but not unsatisfied. That\u2019s a good way to say it.<\/p>\n

\n\tChenford\u00a0fans are\u00a0definitely going\u00a0to go through the emotions in the first episode, from them\u00a0not speaking at first,\u00a0to getting back together, to then that teaser that\u00a0Lt. Grey (Richard T. Jones) might\u00a0recommend Tim as the new lieutenant, complicating their relationship again. What were you thinking\u00a0when you first read the script for this first episode?<\/p>\n

\n\tProbably the same type of trepidation that everybody else feels or rather how you were feeling in that moment, just a sense of, \u201cI hope this goes well and that everyone is still happy.\u201d Because we are hip to the reception. It is rather loud and everybody\u2019s 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\u2019t think anyone\u2019s going to be let down, even if it gives people PTSD.<\/p>\n

\n\tI know Lucy has had many\u00a0ups and downs\u00a0over the seasons, but seeing her now as a\u00a0sergeant\u00a0and seeing her growth and success, how does that make you feel as the actor playing her?\u00a0Do you feel like\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0also\u00a0growing\u00a0with her?<\/p>\n

\n\tYes, I absolutely feel like I\u2019m growing with Lucy. A big part of that is that I am being called in to perform things that I didn\u2019t even have the skill set to perform myself as a person just living in the world. So it\u2019s demanding that I go out and learn things so that I can do my job properly. But at the same time, it\u2019s really exciting because even though this wasn\u2019t 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\u2019ve 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. <\/p>\n

\n\tBut I\u2019m 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\u2019s really tested and finds herself in situations that really expand her capacity and test her emotional intelligence. And I\u2019m really excited to see how people receive it because it\u2019s a different color from Lucy than we\u2019ve seen. Because as much as she\u2019s been through, there\u2019s a sense of levity and joy that is \u2026 You can\u2019t disturb it. And it\u2019s a little different this season.<\/p>\n

\n\tI 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?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI 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\u2019m recently emerging out of this pretty intense period of time in my personal life where I wasn\u2019t able to attend to my physical needs as much. And in the last two years, I\u2019ve 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\u2019s really, really fun.<\/p>\n

\n\tCan you tease what fans can expect for the rest of season eight\u00a0and what\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0looking forward to most?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt 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, \u201cOh, we\u2019re going to go home with every single character.\u201d I think that was a mistake to say that because this season we dive deeply into people\u2019s personal lives while absolute chaos is happening around us. And I didn\u2019t expect it to get so personal and intimate with so many different people\u2019s home lives. And I think the things I can tease that I\u2019m really excited for people to see for Lucy\u2019s story is that as Alexi has already teased, so it\u2019s not a spoiler, we do indeed go undercover again. I don\u2019t want to say too much about that because it\u2019s absolutely epic. And then the next sequence that feels really significant for Lucy\u2019s character development that I can\u2019t wait for people to see was written and directed by our showrunner, Alexi, and it\u2019s episode 10.<\/p>\n

\n\tGetting your start as a teen in the entertainment industry, with winning Canadian Idol in 2005, how did that\u00a0impact\u00a0your transition to acting and the way you view success in the entertainment industry?<\/p>\n

\n\tSomething 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\u2019s 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, \u201cI love being in an ensemble.\u201d And because I entered that world so early, I didn\u2019t have any post-secondary education around this, but that became my education.<\/p>\n

\n\tI 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s a part of being a good singer.<\/p>\n

\n\tSince music was such a large part of your life growing up, do you see yourself ever returning to it\u00a0in the future?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI have for so long pushed that so far away and I got my itch anyways because I was doing theater and it\u2019s 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\u2019s been this whole resurgence. Sometimes people tag me, I\u2019m like their No. 1 on Spotify Wrapped. I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat\u2019s going on? This album is like 20 years old.\u201d So that\u2019s wild.<\/p>\n

\n\tI 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\u2019m like, \u201cWhy am I trying to shy away from this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you had to describe what makes\u00a0Melissa O\u2019Neil,\u00a0Melissa O\u2019Neil, what would you say?<\/p>\n

\n\tI would say that what makes me me is a pretty wildly neurodivergent person who\u2019s 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\u2019s not a lot that I will compromise for it (Laughs). And I got a lot of people who can attest to that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[This story contains spoilers for The Rookie season eight, episode one, titled \u201cCzech Mate.\u201d] Running, jumping and falling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146,85,46,409,123602,67768,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-225725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-next-big-thing","13":"tag-the-rookie","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}