How Alyssa Diaz’s Real-Life Pregnancy Changed Angela’s Storyline

Angela Lopez has a pregnancy storyline The rookie Which is very close to home for the actor, Alyssa Diaz. Over six seasons and counting The rookieThe other officers in the LAPD have worked tirelessly to keep the city safe from crime all while teaching the oldest rookie, John Nolan (Nathan Fillion), the finer points of police work. The lives of the officers outside their daily jobs are also of interest, and the figure of The rookie Features an ensemble of multi-layered characters who each go through unique arcs.

LAPD Detective Angela Lopez is the co-leader of The rookie Along with JohnAnd she is the new recruit training officer in the early seasons of the show. Angela has one of the best character arcs in The rookie And her journey from police officer to detective is exciting and relatable to anyone who has worked in an industry dominated by men or another ingroup unwilling to make changes. She is a smart, loyal, caring and often hot-tempered officer who has a plot that mirrors an event in actor Alyssa Diaz’s life.

Alyssa Diaz’s pregnancy was written into Angela’s The Rookie season 3 storyline

Angela named her baby after the late Jackson West

In season 3, episode 1, “Consequences”, Angela learns that she is pregnant with her fiance, Wesley Evers’ (Shawn Ashmore), child. Angela has just been made a detective in the premiere and she and Wesley decide to keep the news private as long as possible, worried that it could derail her burgeoning career. Angela keeps the child hidden for almost all of season 3, with only drug queen pin, Sandra de La Cruz (Camille Guaty), finding out in season 3, episode 3, “La Fiera”.

In the season 4 premiere, “Life and Death”, Angela is taken hostage by Sandra, who wants Angela’s unborn child to replace the one she lost, an event she blames Angela for. However, Angela escapes unharmed, and a time jump to three months later sees her give birth to a healthy baby boy and name him “Jackson” after Jackson West (Titus Makin Jr.) who died protecting Angela from Sandra and her gang. .

It is a crucial storyline for Angela’s character and The rookie As a whole, more about her pregnancy in season 3 than the explosive premiere in season 4. Angela often comes up against the overt and discrete misogyny of being in a male-dominated profession And her pregnancy forces her to confront these realities Head on. The whole story came about because Alyssa Diaz was pregnant. The series creator Alexi Hawley tells EW,

“Alyssa just had a baby in real life. That was part of our journey this season was her calling up to say, ‘I’m pregnant’ and us going, ‘Okay, great you’re pregnant on the show.’ It really adds a level of reality to her experience to finally get the job that she wanted so much, but to be pregnant in it and knowing the consequences that could come if people knew about it, I think there will be a lot of women in The workplace that has to walk the line.”

It’s a good way to show that even with her professional success, Angela still has extra obstacles to overcome as a woman in the LAPD. Also, the storyline ensured that the excellent Alyssa Diaz had to stay in the show.

Angela’s second pregnancy in The Rookie is likely just fictional

Season 5 finds Angela pregnant with a daughter

Angela becomes pregnant again later in the series. In season 5, episode 12, “Death Notice”, Angela learns she is expecting a second child and in season 5, episode 22, “Under Siege”, the season finale, she gives birth to a girl Who goes unnamed. Before the surprise pregnancy, Angela had taken birth control pills, making the child a surprise.

Wesley and Angela are still in discussions about whether they want to have another child, and so the new daughter tests the couple’s relationship after more than a season of relative ease. It is a test that they both pass, coming out stronger on the other side of it after realizing simultaneously that they want a bigger family. There is no confirmation that Diaz was with child for Angela’s second pregnancy storyline, so the arc in The rookie is likely only for the character, a way to show that Angela’s life still has a lot of surprises in store.

Other shows that have written real pregnancies into history

Alyssa Diaz is one of dozens of actors whose pregnancy became a character arc

Having the real pregnancy of Alyssa Diaz written in The rookie Was a great story, but Angela is not the only fictional character who has a child because the actor playing them has too. Many shows have had unexpected changes to planned storylines due to writing an actual pregnancy into the narrative. It’s a frontier tradition that stretches back decades, and has also been integral to allowing pregnant actors to continue working despite the physical changes brought on by carrying a child.

Most real pregnancies that are worked into TV shows happen in long-running series like procedurals and sitcoms for obvious reasons, such as filming schedules are tight and the need for new episodes are almost constant. Some prominent examples include Melissa Rauch/Bernadette’s pregnancy in The Big Bang Theory, Alyson Hannigan / Lily’s pregnancy in how i met your mother and Lisa Kudrow/Phoebe’s pregnancy in Friends.

It’s not just modern shows that work real-life pregnancies into fictional storylines, either. Lucille Ball is indeed pregnant in I love Lucy season 2, which aired in 1952. This was a turning point, since before Ball’s pregnancy was written into the storyline (at the insistence of her husband and co-star Desi Arnaz), recognition that a character or actor was Pregnant is also considered. Sexually suggestive for television.

There have been dozens more examples in the decades since, such as Jenna Fisher’s pregnancy creating the perfect opportunity for Jim and Pam to have a child in The office. Alyssa Diaz in The rookie Is one of dozens of pregnant actors whose real life has changed the fate of their characters, and there will likely be many more in the future.