The Rookie's season 7 penultimate episode, "Mutiny and the Bounty," aired on May 6 and left a satisfying outcome.
The episode highlighted many positives for the LAPD team and even brought back the delightful Skip Tracer Randy. He's now a crypto multimillionaire but has gotten a little chaotic with his wealth, which caused a chain reaction that only the LAPD could untangle. They did, thanks to Officer Miles, who knew American Sign Language.
While returning a favorite character is exciting, the main issue concerns whether the talent could be rebooked due to availability. Flula Borg, who portrayed Skip Tracer Randy, came back as the German-born actor had an opening. Needless to say, despite being the cause of trouble, Borg's screen presence causes a fun lightheartedness in The Rookie, which anchors on intense narratives. It's needed to level down some of the more stressful scenes, and it's appreciated.
With season 8 officially confirmed by ABC and hopefully coming in the fall, The Rookie has been gifted with delivering more conflict and crimes, exploring how the team will handle them. The renewal additionally paves the way for an opportunity to bring back even more guest stars, including the actor behind a character referenced in the penultimate episode but not seen: Pete Nolan.
In season 2, we were introduced to Pete Nolan, Officer Nolan's half-brother, portrayed by the comedian Pete Davidson. The discovery took the older Nolan in for a loop, but after getting to know his paternal half-brother, they decided to be in each other's lives.
Davidson was unable to return for the penultimate episode, but The Rookie's showrunner Alexi Hawley revealed to Deadline that he strongly hopes Davidson will return for season 8, but it all comes down to one deciding factor.
"Pete Davidson is someone we’re desperate to get back, and he loves doing the show. His reps have reached out to us about him doing the show; it’s just about trying to land when he’s actually available, because he’s super busy."
We'd definitely love to see Davidson back sometime in season 8, and hated that he wasn't able to appear in the penultimate episode. It's nice to know that the door remains open, and it's a door that has helped bring in many fun guest stars over the years.
Season 7 brought in some notable names, such as Wolfgang Puck and Ricky Whittle, and past seasons included Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, and Bob Morley. These actors brought depth to the story arcs and, for some, charged up the cases. They also brought in some fun shake-ups to the day-to-day operations of the police case storylines.