Why Rookie Villain Monica Stevens Was Killed Off After 4 Seasons

After four seasons on The Rookie, the show has officially killed off its villain, Monica Stevens.

It all went down in season 8’s penultimate episode, when Monica [Bridget Regan] is shot twice in the chest by a supposed rideshare driver, who is later revealed to be a professional assassin hired to take her out. Following her attempt to flee Los Angeles after her shady criminal dealings, Monica is taken to a remote location where her final, dying wish is not to be shot in the face. Luckily, for Monica, that wish is granted, with the camera lingering on a shot of her body, confirming her ultimate demise.

Throughout the four seasons she’s been on the Nathan Fillion-led show, Monica transitioned from a corrupt defense attorney to a full-on criminal mastermind, working with the very drug dealers and murderers she once stood on the stand to defend. And while she has long been able to escape any kind of repercussion for her crimes, including numerous other assassination attempts and a trip through a wood chipper, until this week’s episode, some viewers were left wondering, “Why now?” In an interview with TV Insider, showrunner Alexi Hawley explained why season 8, episode 17, was the right time to kill Monica off.

Alexi Hawley: It felt like it was time. Ultimately, it felt like she’d escaped a lot of things. And I never like to just tread water or feel like we’re telling the same story over and over. So I think it just felt like it was a natural end. And yeah, it felt like we needed to give her a really powerful ending.

Before her death, however, Monica also had an equally “powerful” moment with her ex, Wesley, played by Shawn Ashmore, which saw the pair bid each other one final farewell.

Alexi Hawley: Those two actors are so brilliant. When I talked to Monica about it, I did tell her I’d give her a Viking death, and it felt like — but I remember talking to her in Prague about Monica and sort of layering in trying to keep the dimensionality of that character going. It’s very easy to fall into; she’s just a villain, but I thought we did a really good job this season with showing the cracks in that armor she wears every day. I just think that that scene was so powerful, where she’s like, “I know every move I made, but I still don’t understand exactly how I got here,” was really emotional.

That will also be the last The Rookie viewers see of Monica, Hawley shared, telling TV Insider, “We don’t do a ton of flashbacks. So I think that story is told.”

Regan also spoke to the outlet, adding that she wasn’t surprised by Monica’s death; in fact, she was “thrilled.”

Bridget Regan: I was thrilled that she lasted as long as she did. If you play with fire as long as she has, eventually you’re going to get burned. And as I said to Alexi and everybody, I was like, “She’s not on her ninth life. She’s on her 37th. She’s escaped multiple assassinations and prison time, and being thrown in a wood chipper.” But what I was surprised by was just how incredibly sad I was for her. Not that she died, but that she never truly flipped, that she actually succumbed to the dark side and couldn’t find her way back. And I felt like there was this version of Monica that could have been something else, but she just could never get there. So to me, that was the real heartbreak of it all.

The Rookie‘s season 8 finale airs Monday at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC.

Release Date

December 7, 1990

Runtime

121 minutes