The Rookie season 2 production house confirms workplace investigation

Earlier this weekend, The Rookie star Afton Williamson dropped a bombshell related to her departure from the show. To be specific, she proclaimed that she complained about on-set harassment that she received from a crew member and also a recurring guest star and, as a result of it, production did not act quickly. She mentions having a meeting earlier this summer with showrunner Alexi Hawley, two other producers, her agent, and a union representative, one in which she was told that an investigation into her allegations had not even commenced yet. As a result of that, she walked.

Now, both ABC and also production company eOne have each released statements (via TVLine) on the subject of what is happening now.

eOne – “We take claims of this nature very seriously. We have initiated an independent investigation which is ongoing and as such, it would not be appropriate to comment at this time.”

ABC – “In late June, eOne made us aware and informed us that they launched an investigation that is ongoing. The safety of working environments is a top priority for us, and we take this matter very seriously.”

The word “independent” in the eOne statement is what matters here, as this needs to be done by a party with nothing to gain depending on the results. It needs to be thorough, and it needs to hold people to account for any wrongdoing. There’s been such a movement towards creating safer work environments the past couple of years in particular, and that really starts with the showrunners and executive producers making sure that concerns are properly heard. The specific allegations that Williamson makes about a crew member and a guest star are troubling, but equally so is the idea of people at the top of the food chain not responding fast enough or giving any proper assurances that the problem was taken care of.

For Williamson, what we hope moving forward is that there’s going to be an opportunity for her to find another great role elsewhere. She did a great job on The Rookie season 1 and because of that, we think other shows will take note and hopefully welcome her with open arms.

Season 2 of The Rookie is currently expected to premiere on ABC this fall.

This is still a developing story, and we have some more news when it comes to The Rookie and Williamson’s comments soon.