The Rookie has become one of the most popular police procedurals of all time. It has been a huge hit for ABC and has become a TikTok-trending show even after eight years on the air. Its growing popularity points to viewers’ love for fast-paced car chases and fascinating characters. Season 8 of the series wrapped in May, with a cliffhanger involving two of the show’s most beloved characters. Unfortunately, fans will have to wait quite a while to find out what happens next, as Season 9 isn’t set to premiere until 2027. Luckily, showrunner Alexi Hawley has offered a creative solution to the long break.
‘The Rookie’ Has Released an Extended Episode From Season 8
To help fill the void left between Rookie seasons, Hulu recently released a supersized cut of Season 8, Episode 10, “His Name Was Martin.” That means there are five-and-a-half minutes of never-before-seen content that’s perfect for devoted Rookie fans. The extra scenes can be found by heading to the Extras tab on The Rookie‘s Hulu landing page. This particular episode features an abandoned hospital that gets filled with zombie-like people who have been accidentally poisoned by a chemical agent. John Nolan (Nathan Fillion), Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil), and Nyla Harper (Mekia Cox) are chased through the grounds by these incredibly dangerous people (who seem intent on killing anyone in their path). The scene that Hawley extends in the unreleased footage features Harper noticing a body on the ground in the hospital. She starts to approach the body, but the new scene features a wider shot, so it appears that someone is actually watching Harper. This leads to an even greater feeling of unease for the viewer. Harper looks out the door frame into the darkness, right when a person comes flying out at her. This slight change makes the episode feel even creepier. But this scene with Harper isn’t the only addition to the original episode.
Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek
Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🚀Star Wars
💍Lord of the Rings
🧙Harry Potter
👑Game of Thrones
🖖Star Trek
01
What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.
02
Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.
03
How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world’s conflicts tells you everything about its soul.
04
Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.
05
What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.
06
How does your universe treat good and evil? A world’s moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.
07
What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?
08
What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.
Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…
Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
You’d find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.
Middle-earth
Lord of the Rings
You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.
Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
Tolkien’s universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.
The Wizarding World
Harry Potter
You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
Harry Potter’s universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.
Westeros · The Known World
Game of Thrones
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don’t confuse the world as it is with the world as you’d like it to be.
Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
Winter always comes. You are already prepared.
The United Federation of Planets
Star Trek
You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
You don’t just hope that’s possible. You think it’s the only thing worth working toward.
The fresh content also includes an additional scene with Lucy and Tim Bradford (Eric Winter), affectionately known as Chenford. In the episode, Tim expresses concern about Lucy going out on her shift that day. He says, “I really do have a bad feeling about today,” but Lucy and Celina Juarez (Lisseth Chavez) just brush him off. Tim insists that his intuition is telling him something feels off, and he turns out to be right when Lucy ends up being attacked by one of the zombie people. She kills the man in self-defense, but is rocked by the event, which continues to affect her in the next episode. Hawley noted in an interview that during the original production, the scene was “the hardest to cut. I really did think it set up what was to come, the foreboding of it.” Fortunately, Hawley has now had the opportunity to insert the extra scene into the extended cut of the episode.
The scene offers viewers more valuable insight into Chenford. Despite Tim trying to maintain a sense of professionalism at work, he is still incredibly protective of Lucy. With just a few added lines of dialogue, it becomes clear that Tim wants to make sure not only that she stays safe, but also that she’s aware of the dangers that can come along with the job. By the episode’s end, Tim’s prediction comes true, but he still couldn’t have done anything to ward off peril. This is an eye-opening and concerning experience for him. Tim’s foreshadowing also plays out in the Season 8 finale. At first, it seems like Chenford will finally have their happily ever after. But then, in the last moments of the season, Tim and Lucy are drugged and kidnapped by mega-villain Heath Everett’s (Jeffrey Vincent Parise) minions. Heath seems intent on revenge after the LAPD thwarted his escape efforts.
Now that the couple is in serious danger, will Chenford be able to save themselves from Heath’s evil clutches? Hawley has stated that the Season 9 premiere script has already been written, and is “super fun and romantic and emotional [with] a lot of action.” While we’re waiting for The Rookie to return, perhaps Hulu will be enticed to release more bonus footage in the future to tide fans over. Until then, at least there are plenty of episodes to binge to still get your fill of Chenford and the gang.
