The Rookie’s Eric Winter and Melissa O’Neil branded ‘troublemakers’ on set

Eric Winter and Melissa O’Neil have the best time on set. The duo, who play Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen in The Rookie, are currently shooting season seven in LA, and fans have officially branded them “troublemakers” after watching their latest blooper reel. 

In a hilarious video montage, Eric and Melissa could be seen breaking character, as they attempted to shoot ‘Chenford’ scenes. “Tim would never laugh at this…” Eric quipped in the caption, “Look out for the next blooper on Monday from @alydiaz.”

Shortly after posting, fans flocked to the comments. “Most of these being you and Melissa is GOLD. We know who the troublemakers are on set!” wrote one. “Love that most of these are with Mel hahaha,” added another. 

Meanwhile, a third declared: “We need more of y’all @ebwinter @missoneil.” 

Set to return to our screens in January 2025, Eric and Melissa will reprise their roles in season seven of The Rookie. With eighteen new episodes airing weekly, fans can expect plenty of drama. 

Speaking exclusively to HELLO!, Eric has teased what’s to come for his character, Tim, not to mention his relationship with former flame, Lucy. 

“I do know we’re gonna see Tim back in the field training rookies, which I think is what people always loved about Tim, I think people liked Metro Tim, but I think people do like training officer Tim, so we’ll get him back out in the field,” he said. 

“I think we’re going to see Tim and Lucy continue to learn how to navigate their feelings while being on the job. 

“We’ll see them pick up in a place where they’ve shown that they care about each other and now they have to figure out, ‘Can we give each other space to do our job and allow our feelings to stay in a safe place but not rush anything and hope one person doesn’t go astray?'”

© Disney/Raymond Liu

As fans will remember, ‘Chenford’ split in season six, with Tim calling time on their relationship. 

“When I was informed about it by [showrunner] Alexi [Hawley], I thought it was a great opportunity for us to learn more about Tim and why he would even go through that or put her through that. When we got that breakup scene, it’s a very atypical breakup,” he explained. 

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“Melissa had her way of approaching it and I had my way, and it was very different – I wanted to let a lot of it happen in the moment. What was interesting though was that there was no good reason for the breakup; Tim was just completely lost in who he is and what he had been through. 

“He had lied to two people that were very important in his life and at the end of the day, he just didn’t think he was good enough for her.”