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Cop, out.
Sources tell TVLine exclusively that in one of the biggest casting surprises of the upcoming fall TV season, Afton Williamson will not be returning to ABC‘s The Rookie , where she played the title character’s TO, Talia Bishop.
Series lead Nathan Fillion, as well as Alyssa Diaz, Richard T. Jones, Titus Makin Jr., Melissa O’Neil and Eric Winter, will return for the light procedural’s sophomore run (which starts Sept. 29, now airing Sundays at 10/9c).
TVLine hears that the parting of ways is “amicable.” (UPDATE: It was not.) Both ABC and production studio eOne declined to comment on Williamson’s status.
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Bishop was a major character and significant presence during Season 1, begrudgingly taking under her wing Fillion’s John Nolan, a fortysomething rookie whose underperformance could very well stymie her career path. Williamson was well written for in the role, especially in an April episode in which we learned that Bishop years ago withheld potentially compromising information from her LAPD application.
Fans took to Bishop quite well, too. As Williamson told TVLine in April, “Like, America likes her. They don’t know why, because she’s stern and they’re usually off-put by that type of demeanor, but for some reason, she wins them over every week because she sees the thing in Nolan that he has to keep proving to everybody else. She’s gunning for the underdog, and I think that that’s why she’s lovable in that way.”
How will The Rookie fill this important void in its central TO/rookie relationship? As TVLine reported in June, the series is adding a male detective to take Nolan under his wing; that role has since been cast with Lost alum Harold Perrineau.
Prior to her Rookie run, Williamson’s TV credits included Shades of Blue, The Night Of and A Gifted Man.
Want more scoop on The Rookie, or for any other show? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.
Too bad, i loved her character. hope she’s leaving because she got a good role somewhere else? let us know, please.
I am shock when I read that Afton Williamson as Officer Bishop won’t be return for the second season of the Rookie. It is rare to see a female character who got her act together. I still can’t wait to see how the show will write out her character in the first episode.
easy – she ended up getting fired for her lying – after a second review by higher up the food chain
or simply … they’ll say she needed time off … OR … they’ll just say she quit … like Elliot Stabler did on L&O: SVU
but in this case with the new character taking her place …. she’ll probably never be mentioned again
What?!?!? That is a disappoint. Is it weird that I really want to know why? I hope that she chose to leave for a better role but I suspect that isn’t the case 😬
…but, I want her back! Other than Nathan (and the woefully underused Mercedes Mason), she was my favorite, and this is all about ME.
…and I want her back, too! Whaaw…I’m heartbroken. She was great and such a good addition to every scene she was in. I hope she can be a recurring presence, if nothing else. I want to cry out don’t leave us. Suits, get your executive acts together and keep her on the show. If you are getting some great opportunity, I get it. But maybe you can stop by for an episode, occasionally? I will treasure this first year because of your presence, Afton.
DITTO!
That bums me out…I really liked both the actress, and the character. 😞
Me too! Didn’t see this coming…
Here’s hoping she does well in her future projects. I’ll assume she had a helluva opportunity for the series to let her out if her contract. Especially as successful as the character was. A great contribution to the show.
Male detective? Shrug.
I really hate to hear this since her character was my favorite. I hope she lands on something great.
That sucks. She is my favorite on the show. Hope to see her again soon.
I mean I do love Harold perrineau.. But I also was tired of Nolan being in the center of every single big thing that happened it seemed ( I know he’s the star and protagonist) so im iffy on whatever this new dynamic with the detective is… But I’m sad to see afton go.. I hope like others are saying she’s leaving for a meatier role elsewhere and everyone parted ways in a cool manner
Oh No…I really liked her character. Talia is awesome…What really happened?
s02 is likely about retooling for any freshman series.
I thought the series was okay-ish. Pretty ambitious for a dramedy.
Titular star kinda reminds me of a younger TJ Hooker.
Aw that’s too bad :( Her and Nolan had such a great dynamic. It was my favourite part of the show.
Maybe she just knows when a sinking ship is a sinking. No diss to the show but abc scheduling it Sun @ 10/9 pretty much guaranteed it wouldn’t be back for a third season.
Yeah, that was my thinking.
Upon thinking about it. You might be right. However Madam Secretary lasted for a little over five seasons even though it had scheduling problems because of football which I don’t think that the Rookie will have that problem. I hope. I hope. I hope.
I thought Sunday night was a good night for TV shows. There have been any number of successful shows on Sunday nights. The Good Wife, Once a Time come immediately to mind and there have been others. Sunday night is prime time not like Saturday night or Friday night for dumping shows.
Losing Bishop is a blow to the show since the dynamics between Nolan and his to were fantastic. I’m unimpressed by the two casting additions. But I enjoyed the first season and will give season 2 a chance. Something to watch while waiting for football to finish so I can watch Madam Secretary.
I would love not see Seamus Dever join The Rookie. Former members of Firefly are always appearing on Castle.
That’s awful. I enjoyed her on the show. It’s going to feel like a void.
Disappointing news as their dynamic was the best part of the show.
So the diva Fillion did not get along with her…
I was thinking the same thing.
Hate to say it, but same. I was hoping things with Stana were a one-off.
If Nathan is indeed that difficult or that much of a prima donna then he needs to realize his great female co-stars are elevating his performances. Quit seeing them as stealing your spotlight. Your performances are supposed to complement each other. And Nolan & Bishop’s dynamic was great. Afton was sensational & her character was the heart of the TOs.
I hope she lands something even better soon.
That was my first thought!
Jeez, my thoughts too! That didn’t take long. And here we go again. Bishop….way better character than Nolan. Very popular from the get-go. This time, Hawley and number 1 on the call sheet didn’t wait 8 years to completely demean the character and just to have the much better actor booted off/fired/cut for budget reasons. History repeating.
And now 2 strong, well written female characters (and excellent actresses) are gone from the show…
Agreed. Losing both the captain and Officer Bishop are a serious blow to an on the bubble show. My first thought also was that Nathan Fillion was again feeling threatened, in that he imagines himself to be the star of every show. I am surprised that the movie “Saving Private Ryan” was not publicized as “starring Nathan Fillion as the wrong Private Ryan”.
In the last couple of weeks we found out that Castle got the number one spot for having the worst ending of a series in the last 10 years. Who was the show runners, no other than Mr. Hawley. When the awards are handed out for that will he run up to the stage to get his trophy thanking everyone along the way for the help they gave him. Or is Rookie going to give him his next trophy
The Worst Endings list was not a ranking. –Mgmt.
Matt maybe I’m reading this wrong. On the 18 of July on TV line’s Decade in Review: The 13 worst series Finales, Castle received 18% noting the finale was bad. That was the highest of the 13 on the list. A few days later the list came out, Castle was on top and number 2. was Dexter that made me think it was number 1. Out of all the series finales in a decade just being on the list speaks very loud. All of season 8 was just bad for and the 30 second ending just made it worst. And after three years we know Hawley did very little to stop Katic from being fired, and is the same thing happened to Williamson. I think she is working on a movie.
Well I was looking forward to The Rookie returning. But, now I will have to re-think watching if the character of Bisjop is not returning. The chemistry between she and Nolan was wonderful. Bummer
Guess the female lead was getting too popular & somebody got their nose out of joint! Seems vaguely familiar!
Do you know this for a fact? Or just running your mouth without basis
Thank you! I wondered how long it would take for the anti-Fillion crowd to show up. Since there isn’t any additional facts on why she is leaving–let’s make stuff up and make it his fault. SMDH
Think back to Castle when Katic got too popular, she had to go. After the tweet on around May 15th when half the fan base was thrown under the bus, maybe it time to stop watching.
I really like her and that the show had all these women in positions of authority and now they killed the captain and his TO is gone only to be replace a male rather than another strong woman role model. Disappointing to say the least.
I am, totally, bummed out about the captain’s death. It was unexpected and a cruel blow to the fans. I just hate that some decision makers feel a need to do this kind of story writing. Bummer! Hear that, suits?! You are right in that it was a great mix of women authorities with men authorities and all the lesser strugglers. Such a slice of hoped for real life …haha.
Agree completely. Very bummed to see her go and be replaced by a male actor.
I really like this show, plus, I’ll miss her character.
This blows! Her character is one of the best on the show. Why would the show get ride of her, and bring in a male detective for Nolan to work with. Why would a second year officer get paired up with a detective already anyway?
Oh, no! I loved her, way more than Lopez. How disappointing.
THANK GOD, could not stand her she was a self righteous B when in fact , she was covering for a foster brother the whole time..I guess it only matters when “someone” else is doing something illegal.
She was one of the best characters. They will have to have a very good paring for Nolan to make this work without her. I hope her character gets that promotion to detective as their way of writing her out.
I love ms Williamson and feel she a talented actress and have followed her career and never disappointed.she needs her own show or at least a series where she has star status and can really spread her acting wings. You go Afton I’m rooting for you
I hope they have a great new character in line – for a show I started watching for Nathan Fillion, he has the most annoying character on it. Everyone else in the show is why I kept watching and they already killed off one of the best.
What if anything does Harold Perrineau joining the show mean for Claws??? I can’t imagine Claws without Dean!
Really bad news :(