‘The Rookie’ Season 5 First Look: #Chenford Undercover in Las Vegas

All bets are off when Lucy and Tim hit Sin City, as seen in our exclusive first photo from Season 5 of ABC’s The Rookie.

When last we tuned into the light procedural from showrunner Alexi Hawley, Sergeant Bradford (played by Eric Winter) had been sent undercover as a drug dealer named Jake, who he happened to look a lot like (save for some prominent tattoos). Later in that Season 4 finale, after the team laid eyes on Jake’s girlfriend, it was decided that Officer Chen (Melissa O’Neil) could/would pass herself off as (ahem) Juicy.

That led to a private “prep” session where the two did a dry run of any possible PDA that might be needed to sell the lie. Dissatisfied with Tim’s tepid peck, Lucy pulled her former TO into a far more convincing, lingering liplock.

In the Season 5 premiere (airing Sunday, Sept. 25 at 10/9c and titled “Double Down”), Officer John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) once again comes face-to-face with serial killer Rosalind Dyer (returning guest star Annie Wersching). Lucy and Tim, meanwhile, once again find themselves working undercover, with Detective Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) and the Las Vegas PD, to nab the leaders of a major criminal enterprise.

As seen in the exclusive photo below, the undercover assignment is at risk of hitting a snag when a casino staffer “recognizes” Tim. But Lucy seems to have the would-be problem… handled.

Courtesy of ABC/Raymond Liu

On the casting front for The Rookie Season 5, Legends of Tomorrow alum Lisseth Chavez will guest-star in multiple episodes as Celina, a new rookie with an easy confidence and high marks at the Academy, while Tru Valentino, who joined the series last season as Officer Aaron Thorsen, has been upped to series regular.

ABC is also set to officially deploy, on Tuesday, Sept. 27, The Rookie Feds, a spinoff of the springtime two-parter that introduced Officer Nolan and us to Simone Clark, the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy (played by Claws‘ Niecy Nash-Betts). The offshoot’s cast also includes Frankie Faison (The Wire), Felix Solis (Ozark), Britt Robertson (Big Sky), Kevin Zegers (Transamerica) and James Lesure (Las Vegas).

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