ABC‘s The Rookie has gone through its fair share of casting changes over its five seasons. Recurring characters have come and gone, while a few series regulars have bid farewell to the show. And the first main character to leave The Rookie was Zoe Andersen, played by Mercedes Mason.
Mercedes Mason played Zoe Andersen in ‘The Rookie’ Season 1
The Rookie introduced Mercedes Mason as Captain Zoe Andersen during the series premiere. She was the captain of the Mid-Wilshire police station and is the one who requested John Nolan be on her squad. Nolan was the oldest rookie in the Los Angeles Police Department, and so few people had faith that he could successfully do his job as a cop. However, Zoe believed in him.
Before becoming a captain, Zoe was in the Marine Corps, serving with the military police. After leaving the military, she worked in the United States Pentagon Police Criminal Investigations Directorate. Zoe later joined the LAPD, where she worked her way up the ranks to captain.
In The Rookie Season 1 Episode 17, Zoe committed to riding with Nolan after a gang member, Cole Midas, put a hit out on him. Nolan accidentally broke the strap of Cole’s girlfriend’s dress while arresting her, so Cole wanted him dead. And since Cole’s father was the leader of a white supremacist gang, Nolan’s life was in severe danger.
While on patrol, Nolan and Zoe responded to a burglary call. But it turned out to be fake and was a ruse set up by Cole. The gang member and his men attacked Nolan and Zoe and tied them to chairs. They dumped Zoe into a pool, but she freed herself and killed two men. Unfortunately, Zoe was fatally shot in the neck during a shootout with Cole. She was 38 years old at the time of her death.
At the end of the hour, Nolan arrested Cole and avenged his captain’s death.
Why did ‘The Rookie’ writers kill off Mercedes Mason’s character?
Following the airing of The Rookie Season 1 Episode 16 on March 19, 2019, showrunner Alexi Hawley revealed why he and the producers decided to write Mercedes Mason out of the show.
One fan asked on Twitter, “WHY?????? The only question I have is why?????? I LOVE this show SO SO much!!!” Hawley answered, “It’s heartbreaking. But the stakes of this new life Nolan has chosen are all too real, and we can’t run away from them creatively.”
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When another viewer wondered if the writers always intended to kill Zoe, Hawley tweeted, “No. And we went back and forth about it in the writers’ room. But it ultimately felt like the most dramatic and powerful way to impact our story.”
It sounds like Mercedes Mason didn’t request to leave The Rookie — it was a creative decision to kill her character by the writers.
‘The Rookie’ fans mourned Zoe after episode 16
The Rookie fans jumped on Reddit following episode 16 to discuss the shocking death and mourned Mercedes Mason as Captain Zoe Andersen.
“That was the quickest ‘Hell yeah!.. HELL NO!!!’ moment I ever had,” a Reddit user shared. “Sad to see her go.”
One fan said, “Her death was EPIC. Although I hated for her to be killed, she went out like a hero — broke a finger to free herself, shot two dudes, and saved Nolan’s life. When her eyes rolled back, and she started to slide down into the water, my husband was like, ‘Nooo. She will be hospitalized and in a coma. She can’t die.’ Episode was like, PSYCH.”
“Lots of emotions… the thumb thing, then the shot in the neck,” someone else wrote. “She did not go down without a fight. TV needs more bada** women like her.”
Another fan replied, “That’s why I was so pissed she died, she was a strong bada** woman and in charge, and they just killed her off. I was pretty upset.”
New episodes of The Rookie Season 5 air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Fans can watch all seasons of The Rookie on Hulu.
