Even as she powers through Dancing With the Stars Season 35, Jenna Dewan is hyping up the next time we’ll see her play firefighter Bailey Nune when The Rookie returns for Season 9 early next year.
Dewan told Entertainment Weekly recently there are “some incredible storylines” she’s “very, very excited about” — including an unexpected development for Bailey.
“There’s a new character, an addition to my storyline that is very interesting,” she teased. “I didn’t see it coming. It’s very fun. And I do one of my most thrilling scenes so far during the season, which I’m really excited to show.”
The dancer and actor also told EW that The Rookie is the best job she has ever had. “The cast [seen below at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year] are the nicest, most supportive people,” she explained. “We genuinely love each other, and I think that is a lot of what makes the show work so well. People feel that chemistry and friendship that we all have, and it’s genuine. We really do love each other, and we respect each other a lot.”
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So Dewan is happy to be filming The Rookie Season 9 and DWTS Season 35 simultaneously. (And it helps that both productions are based in Los Angeles.) “I knew it was going to be really full-on when I said yes, but it’s been absolutely amazing in a lot of ways,” she said. “I like the busyness. It keeps us fresh and young!”
Dewan is coming off a challenging Season 8 for her character, as Bailey navigated a new job in D.C. — which meant she and husband John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) went long-distance — before returning to L.A. and to her work with the Los Angeles Fire Department.
And Dewan previously told TV Insider she appreciates that it’s “external drama” that Bailey and Nolan deal with. “There’s not a lot of orchestration of drama between us,” she observed. “And I think I really love that because yes, any other relationship, there’s going to be ups and downs and choices and decisions, but it’s how we are a team together and the world that we live in is very dramatic and there’s a lot of high stakes in it. I like watching that. I like the feeling of, we’re a team, how do we navigate that? But then we get the excitement of all the craziness that happens. [I want] more of that.”
The Rookie, Season 9 Premiere, Wednesday, January 6, 2027, 9/8c, ABC, Streams Next Day on Hulu
