There are some characters who are just those you love to hate. The Rookie has had a few of them over the years, and it’s getting one in season 8.
Actually, it’s already had this character for a while. They’re just finally joining Nolan’s team, and that’s going to make them more prominent and far easier to hate.
And no, it’s not Seth. Sure enough, he was the one we thought we’d hate the most, but that lying dink of a man is just a blip when it comes to The Rookie season 8 villain. It’s all about Monica Stevens.
Monica is set to join the team in The Rookie season 8
During an interview with ScreenRant, showrunner Alexi Hawley shared that Monica’s inclusion into the series in a bigger way was something that he was “excited” about. It all comes down to figuring out a way to keep a villain fresh, and that has to be the case with Monica.
"I think that, ultimately, it's going to generate some great stories for us going forward, like our trip to Prague, because ultimately, part of her immunity deal is helping us catch a few bad guys. So now she becomes part of the team. It's a weird thing."
She’s already been a villain in the series, helping prisoners escape and causing problems for some of our favorite characters. Now she’s managed to broker an immunity deal, but it comes with a catch. She’s going to be the one to help catch the bad guys, making her part of the team.
She’s a team member that nobody wants, and she naturally has her own motives by working with the LAPD. You don’t think she actually wants to catch the villains, do you? She has to do it, but she’s sure to figure out a way to be a problem.
Is The Rookie setting up for Monica’s redemption in season 8?
One thing a lot of TV shows try to do is redeem villains. We’ve even seen it with The Rookie season 7, when Seth came back and had to have his leg amputated. It left him realizing that everything he’s done has been for nothing. Had it not been for the lies, maybe he would have been better prepared for the situation he and Nolan had been in, and now his career had come to an end before it even got started.
There did seem to be an attempt to redeem him, but it was too little too late. The Rookie season 8 is likely to have more time with Monica, helping to create more of a redemption arc. One of the biggest ways to do that would be to combine with some of the previous storylines since her introduction in season 5.
She was the one to help Bailey’s ex and Oscar to escape. Well, Oscar is still out in the wind, and maybe the first step of redemption is to catch him. As she helps to catch more of the bad guys, maybe she’ll see that her evil ways were wrong.
I just wouldn’t count on it. We’re sure to see that Monica is up to something bigger, and The Rookie season 8 is just going to have us hating her more rather than real redemption.
The Rookie season 8 will premiere in 2026 on ABC.