Eric Winter Teases Tim & Lucy’s Relationship Season 8

For several years now, The Rookie fans have been enthralled by the slow-burn romance between show’s most popular couple, Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) and Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil), nickname Chenford.

Since finally creating the air at the end of last season, the on- and off- couple has been very much on, with Lucy recently moving in with Tim. Are wedding bells next for them?

“Oh, wow,” was Winter’s reaction when asked by Deadline about the prospect of marriage for Chenford at a promotional event for his Palm Republic Rum.

“Tim and Lucy are definitely still building in a positive way,” he added about the direction of their relationship. “They’ve overcome a ton and I think what we’re going to see throughout the season is how they continue to navigate this work-life balance. I would say they’re getting to a really good place in their relationship, there’s some positive movement in a direction that I think they’re seeing each other, obviously they moved in with each other. So what I can say is that they’re in a really positive place.”

Could that eventually lead to nuptials?

“I feel like that would be a natural progression for them,” Winter said. “I think Tim has learned from his mistakes. He’s in it for the long haul, and wants to build a future, and sees that future. Will he get the courage to do it is one thing, and to dive back in with somebody at work to that level and take it to the next step, I think, is something he’ll wrestle with. But I think he’s excited to consider that for sure.”

Following his promotion to Watch Commander, Tim has been largely stuck at the station. We saw him back in the field in the most recent March 16 episode, in which he joined Lucy on patrol during her first day back after accidentally killing a man who had been turned into a crazed attacker by toxic chemicals.

That won’t be his last ride this season.

“Good thing for Tim right now is, the first half of the season, he was learning this new role as Watch Commander, which took him out of the heat, off the streets, which, for Bradford, is a very tough thing,” Winter said. “I don’t think he navigates that world the way Sergeant Grey did, so the rest of the season, we’re going to see him come to a solution and getting back on the streets. How does he do it more regularly, and throw him back in the action, juggling that with Lucy, everything that she just went through, is going be a big part of their story going forward, obviously, with his mom in the mix now too, whether that builds in the relationship or holds it back, is going to be fun to explore.”

Led by 50-something Nathan Fillion, The Rookie has become an unlikely viral hit, with its popularity among teens exploding. Winter, a father of two, including a teenage daughter, is well aware of that and the devoted following his character as well as Chenford have on social media.

“Oh god, it’s crazy,” he said. “I think it started — and I have a 14-year-old right in the mix of all this — on Tiktok. The LA Times just released something that we were the most watched show of any network show for the young demo. Tiktok, without a question, has contributed to that young demo.

“We’re a family show, we give great stories with action, heartfelt. You get everything in one stop, but the romances, the relationships, I think, is what the young generation is really grabbing onto.

“I know there are a ton of Chenford fans at that young age that have flags, calendars, and all these things in their houses; they’re just obsessed with; it’s almost as if Tim and Lucy are like a Ross and Rachel from Friends. I will say this, one of my nieces, who’s in her early 20s, she was like, this is our generation’s Grey’s Anatomy. It’s got these relationships moments that these younger kids can relate to, and they think it’s fun.

“And I think the complexity of Tim and Lucy is what’s really been strong in that demo. Because everybody else [on The Rookie] is married, everybody’s got kids. So what does the young demo see, they see these two people at work, that they’re together, they’re not together, trying to make it work. There’s too many problems, and it’s fun and juicy.”

Winter and the rest of The Rookie cast have been leaning into that.

“I think in our business, fans are everything,” he said. “If you have a movie, who’s going to go to that movie? You need these people supporting you, any fan, any age, supporting you. I don’t ever shy away from greeting fans, addressing the fans, letting them be as involved as they want to be in The Rookie or what’s going on in my career. They’ve been what’s helping me get to where I’m at. I think we all see it that way, Nathan’s like that, the cast like that. We really embrace this young generation that’s found this. It’s been pretty cool. It’s a shock, yeah, I get blown away every time I go out.”

The Rookie original episodes air Mondays at 10 PM on ABC and next day on Hulu. The series has not been renewed for Season 9 yet but that is very likely given the show’s streaming success.