‘The Rookie’ Kills Off Character in Plot Twist

The Rookie just killed off a character in a shocking lead-up to the Season 8 finale.

Spoilers Alert: Spoilers for ‘The Rookie’ Season 8 Episode 17 ahead.

Monica Stevens, the corrupt lawyer played by Bridget Regan, met a grisly end during Monday’s episode of the ABC police procedural, titled “Dead Ringer,” after her dirty dealings came back to bite her.

Feeling caught between a rock and a hard place while double-dealing with the feds and the criminal underworld, Monica was looking for a way out when both her law enforcement contacts and criminal kingpin Aiden Warner (Tim Griffin) realized she was playing both sides.

Aiden promised Monica an exit plan via a private plane waiting for her at LAX, and on the way to the airport, she stopped at the home of her ex-boyfriend, Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore), for a heartfelt goodbye. While Wesley tried to convince Monica it wasn’t too late to start fresh, she knew her path had already been laid.

Just as it seemed that Monica might actually escape, the driver of her rideshare, who was meant to take her to LAX, passed the airport exit, effectively sealing the lawyer’s fate. As she parked, Monica only requested one thing of her assassin: “Please, not in the face.” It was then that she was shot twice in the chest, and her body was left to be discovered on the side of the road the next day.

Regan told TV Insider that she was “not surprised” by Monica’s death, but “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,” Regan told the outlet. “And as I said to [showrunner Alexi Hawley] 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.”

“When her number was finally up, I wasn’t surprised,” she continued. “I thought, fair enough. She’s had an amazing run, four years on this show. I’m only filled with gratitude.”

Regan noted that she was shocked at how “incredibly sad” she was for Monica while filming the end of her storyline. “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,” she said. “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.”