Aaron Thorsen

Officer **Aaron Thorsen** is a recurring character in the fourth season and a main character in the fifth season of *The Rookie*, played by Tru Valentino. His badge number is 14483, and his training officer in Season 4 was Detective Nyla Harper. After Harper goes on maternity leave in Season 5, John Nolan helps to finish his training before he is promoted to Police Officer II in "Dye Hard". Thorsen and Harper's call sign was 7-Adam-19. He first appears in season four, episode two, "Five Minutes".

## Biography

Aaron is the only child of famous rapper Lincoln Thorsen and Yvonne Thorsen, and had a very privileged childhood. He was raised in Los Angeles and became famous on TikTok for flaunting his extravagant lifestyle. At some point in his childhood, he became very close to Patrick Hayes, to the point that his father, Dexter Hayes, "had to buy two of everything" as they were always together. Aaron chose to study abroad in Paris while in college, living with Patrick in a shared apartment. They later befriended other students like Everest Sanders and Rowan Clausen with the four traveling the country to party.

One night, Aaron went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and discovered Patrick dead with his throat slit. As the only other occupant of the apartment, Aaron was arrested as the prime suspect in Patrick's murder. Aaron became the subject of a media circus following his arrest. After multiple mistrials and over a year in French prison, Aaron was acquitted in the courts. However, at the time he joined Mid-Wilshire the court of public opinion remained largely unconvinced: he had lost most of his friends, and Patrick's father was still certain that Aaron was the perpetrator.

Aaron ultimately went to the police academy to find a new purpose in life. As Sergeant Grey tells Detective Harper, Aaron "had to sue to get into the academy. But he earned solid scores once there." In his own words, "I will always strive to tip the scales towards justice... because I know what it's like when they're tipped the other way."

### Season 4

Aaron is Nyla Harper's second probationary trainee. Harper's first nickname for Aaron is "Five Minutes", because that's how long she thinks he'll last before he quits the FTO program; however, after proving his mettle in his first day of training, Aaron reveals he is personally traumatized by the name for reminding him of the night Patrick died. Harper agrees to come up with a new nickname for him, as it's "kind of her thing." Aaron later solved the goal of a cat thief who had come to LA for a matter. Because of Aaron, the squad set up a successful sting.

In "End Game", Aaron is approached by his mother to come on her new reality show and give his account of Patrick's murder to clear his name. He is initially hesitant, but ultimately decides to accept.

During "Hit List", Aaron is dismayed when the reality show's camera crew follows him and Harper on plain clothes day. He is also shocked when he pulls over Dexter Hayes, Patrick's father, for running a stop sign. Disgusted Aaron was now a cop, Dexter reveals how he still holds him responsible for killing his son, becomes belligerent when he sees the cameras, and tries to hit Aaron, forcing Aaron to arrest him. Aaron decides not to charge him and Dexter is released, and due to the outside interference Harper decides to end plain clothes day early and attempt it again later. Much later, he tries to pursue a car driven by assassins of crime boss Matteo Rubio. Despite Harper's instructions to not worry about property in a chase, Aaron failed to reach the fleeing vehicle.

In "Real Crime", Aaron reunites with his old friends from his time in Paris on his family's reality show, who insist they never believed Aaron was guilty. While filming, the show's producer Morris Mackey is found murdered in the Thorsen house and the circumstances are almost identical to Patrick's death. Everyone in the house, including Aaron, is suspected in the murder. Once again, Aaron maintains his innocence. In the process of investigating the crime, it is revealed Mackey was killed when he revealed that he discovered Patrick's real killer. Much later, Angela Lopez discovered the true killer of Patrick Hayes is Aaron's friend Rowan Clausen. Rowan's family was struggling financially, after he befriended the ultra-wealthy Aaron and Patrick, he used the Thorsen family jet to smuggle drugs from their trips in Europe as a way to earn money. When Patrick found out, Rowan murdered him to hide his crimes and framed Aaron. Rowan later killed the reality show producer Morris Mackey after he figured out Rowan was Patrick's murderer, framing Aaron again. Rowan is later arrested by Chen and Bradford and confesses. Afterwards Aaron's innocence is no longer in question, he mentions that he should have realized Rowan was up to something and wondered why Patrick never told him. Afterwards, he is approached by a remorseful Dexter and they reconcile. During a documentary of the case, Aaron ultimately decides to quit the reality show, saying it fulfilled its purpose as his name has been cleared. He makes the choice of living his life and honoring Patrick by being a cop.

In "Backstabbers," Aaron spends a day riding with Tim Bradford. Aaron expects to be bombarded with "Tim Tests," but instead Tim advises Aaron that they will spend the day trying to figure out his "super power" as a police officer. Initially Tim believes that Aaron's super power is his money and connections and derisively calls him "Batman." After Aaron expertly de-escalates a tense domestic situation, Tim determines that Aaron's time in prison has given him compassion and empathy for those who have been through incarceration, making him a more thoughtful and careful police officer.

### Season 5

Aaron has been promoted police officer II.

During "The Fugitive", he is tasked with watching Lopez's mother after she was hospitalized from a beating. Aaron makes small talk with her and she offers to set him up with her attractive niece if he sets one of her sons up with one of his cousins, he agrees upon seeing the picture. Much later, Lopez arrives and tells Aaron he was wasting his time on her cousin, something he agrees.

In "Death Notice", he gets Lopez and Harper to help him investigate a string of home robberies.

During "Daddy Cop", he and Nolan follow increasingly large leads after they discover criminals hiding at the station.

In "Death Sentence", he joins Chen to help Tamara when the mother of a child she babysits goes missing. Along the way, he tells Chen that he made a decision to live financially independent from his parents, thinking it was best to use this as a way to develop into his own man. However, he fails miserably after having many struggles, he pleads to his parents to reconsider.

In "The List", he becomes friends Celina Juarez, the new rookie and Nolan and others suspect that they are dating. Juarez reveals that she and Thorsen are close because they play Dungeons and Dragons together to blow off steam, but insists they cannot date as he is a Scorpio and she "can't deal with Scorpios". However, this still doesn't stop their friendship.

During "Double Trouble", he investigates a garbage bin and finds a corpse inside. Aaron calls in it and reports it as Sgt. Tim Bradford but the latter is revealed to be alive and begrudgingly tells Aaron it was a lookalike named Jake. In an interview, Aaron admits his surprise by the resemblance.

In a later episode, Thorsen tells Juarez that he knows what it's like to not know what happened to someone you love, citing his own experience.

In "Under Siege", after being shot Aaron is taken to the hospital and put in a medical induced coma. Celina stays by his side and talks to him by bringing up their favorite games.

## Personality

In the past, he was a stereotypical rich boy who partied all the time and would flaunt new purchases on social media. Nevertheless, he hung out with his best friend Patrick who was the closest thing to a brother of his. Patrick's murder and Aaron's arrest for it changed him greatly.

Having been wrongfully incarcerated for two years, Aaron became a cop to ensure that his unfortunate experience does not befall anyone else. While he may experience PTSD from seeing a scene that reminded him of him of his friend, he showed his determined side by adamantly telling Nyla Harper even if he fails to be a good cop in her eyes, he'll continue until he succeeds.

Once his name was cleared, Aaron decided to move past the experience and grow from to become a better cop. He showed no grudge against those who accused him, as seen when he forgave Dexter Hayes for attacking him out his misguided grief.

## Trivia

* He expressed a desire to become a detective in ("The Collar").
* He is an only child but has several cousins ("The Fugitive").
* Like Wesley, he hails from a wealthy family and went to private school (Wesley talked about this in the episode "Real Crime").
* He has been taught by two of the most experienced officers, Harper and Bradford.
* Aaron was accused of a crime, but his name was cleared after the real killer was found.
	+ Despite his name being cleared, he is still recognized from the documentaries and people are still wary of his past.
* He is a Scorpio, placing his birthday somewhere in late October or early November. ("The List")
* His ClipTalk username was a\_Thor$en.98. ("Real Crime"); as of 5x21, he has "4 million followers on ClipTalk".