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Nyla Harper

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"No promises. You ride with me, you ride the rollercoaster." ― Nyla Harper in Amber

Detective Nyla Harper is a main character on The Rookie. She is a Police Detective I who previously worked undercover for four years. She is portrayed by Mekia Cox.

Biography[]

After her undercover operation, she received a "Golden Ticket", which allows her to choose her assignment, and requested to be assigned to the Mid-Wilshire Division as a training officer. She was John Nolan's training officer following the departure of Talia Bishop from seasons 2-3. She trained Aaron Thorsen in Season 4 before returning to a detective position in Season 5 as Nolan becomes the newest Field Training Officer for the Mid-Wilshire Division. Harper's badge number is 56464. She is the ex-wife of Donovan Town and current wife of James Murray; she is also the mother of Lila Town and Leah Murray and the stepmother of Aaron and Michael Murray.

Season 2[]

When we first meet Nyla Harper in "Warriors and Guardians", we learn that she used to be an undercover detective for four years. Sergeant Grey and the other officers are skeptical of her return to being a patrol officer, as she has a "golden ticket" which would have allowed her to pick almost any role in the LAPD. Harper is assigned to be Nolan's training officer. Grey privately confides in Nolan that he does not trust Harper, but says it "wasn't his call" to have her return to the force. During the episode, Nolan also reveals to Harper that if she's planning on making their partnership antagonistic, then she should not expect him roll over and take it. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Harper is fighting for shared custody of her daughter, Lila, with her ex-husband Donovan.

In "Tough Love", it is revealed that Harper is employing a family lawyer, a fact that Nolan finds out later in the episode when he runs a search on the lawyer's name.

After Harper risks legal consequences by picking up her daughter from school during a nuclear missile scare, Nolan realizes that Lila is the reason for Harper's choice to return to patrol and that she's given up everything to be with her daughter again.

In "Clean Cut", Harper requests that Grey write an early annual evaluation for her because a court hearing is coming up regarding the custody of her daughter. At the end of the episode, Grey is impressed with Harper, and promises he will write a positive evaluation of her.

By the end of season 2, Harper has regained shared custody of her daughter and partially credits Nolan's support for this.

Season 3[]

In season 3, Harper receives a formal reprimand for her actions supporting an unauthorized investigation into a dirty cop. Eventually, she starts preparing Officer Chen for a possible undercover assignment, but that doesn't appear to be a likely destination for Chen.

During the course of season 3, Harper begins dating again, with the father of her daughter's classmate and with James Murray who runs the community center (they met in the 1st episode of Season 3).

Season 4[]

In the first episode of Season 4, "Life and Death", Harper assists in rescuing Detective Lopez from her captors in Guatemala, and her rookie, Nolan, is formally promoted to P2.

In "Five Minutes", she becomes T.O. for rookie Aaron Thorsen, whose past experience with murder has been all too personal.

In "A.C.H.", she goes trick-or-treating with her daughter and her ex-husband; at the end of the evening Nyla and Donovan apparently drink too much and end up in bed with each other the next morning. They mutually agree that it was a mistake and Donovan admits that he wants to marry his girlfriend. Nyla encourages him to still do it, since he loved her.

Nyla and James continue to build their relationship; in "End Game" James talks about "doing couple things", but when Nyla discovers she's six weeks pregnant and tells James, he fails to respond with anything but a shocked stare. Eventually they meet to talk about it and Nyla explains why having the baby is so important to her. James apologizes and they make up.

As of "Backstabbers", Nyla is heavily pregnant and confesses to James that she is tired of being called his baby mama and proposes to him, to be called his wife. James was initially accepting but later confides it didn't seem right to be proposed to, since he considered it. Nyla later realized she didn't take his feelings into account and after she accepts his position, he proposes to her on the spot and she accepts. They get married at the courthouse, with all their friends in attendance.

Season 5[]

In "Labor Day", Nyla and James have moved into a new house where she is hoping to give birth. Much later, James enters the room and finds the burglar alive but with a gunshot wound while Nyla has given birth and is holding the baby (at the same time holding the burglar at gunpoint). She casually tells her husband, "It's a girl." After the situation, she shares a moment with her family while telling Grey and Lopez that she is officially extending her maternity leave to watch her daughter, something James holds her to.

Personality[]

As a result of being undercover for four years, Harper was originally a lone wolf, used to operating by herself and often unwilling to let others including her LAPD colleagues into her life due to the fact that she had operated around cartels and knowing that things could go sideways at any moment.

She also had an intimidating presence and didn't care much about her new boot, John Nolan or others, calling Nolan "Five Percent" although it was later revealed that Grey had put Harper with Nolan, informing him that while she could easily crush a rookie, Nolan who had shown on many occasions a limit to his patience could stand up to her and even call her out on something which was shown when Nolan informed her during their ride in "Warriors and Guardians" that if she was committed to making their partnership or tenure antagonistic, she should not to expect him to roll over and take it, something that visibly surprised Harper.

Over time, though, as a result of her interactions with them, Harper became more open to them, often ready to assist in any investigations and even during off-hours. Nolan and Harper developed a clear friendship over time.

Relationships[]

Family[]

Allies[]

Enemies[]

Appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • Harper is Urban Police Rifle certified and prefers to use her rifle rather than a shotgun.
  • She reveals in "La Fiera" that her mother used to call every time she was on patrol.
  • Harper and Nolan are the only known officers on the show to have received a "Golden Ticket"; Harper comments on this when Nolan receives his golden ticket in "Double Down".
  • She became close friends with Lopez, due to their similar tough personalities.
  • Harper often uses her own experiences to guide her fellow officers, especially the boots. This was made evident when she revealed to Chen that she was assaulted by her case officer during her period undercover as revealed in "Now and Then". She only revealed this information to help Chen process her own trauma (being buried alive by Caleb Wright).
  • Harper is known for assigning nicknames to her trainees: "Five Percent" to Nolan, "Not Nolan" to Chen, "Five Minutes" to Thorsen, and "Miss Cleo" to Juarez.
  • She used an iPhone XR for the second season to the sixth, and in the sixth she upgraded to a iPhone 15 Pro.

References[]

External links[]

THE ROOKIEe
Cast Nathan Fillion • Shawn Ashmore • Lisseth Chavez • Mekia Cox • Jenna Dewan • Alyssa Diaz • Richard T. Jones • Melissa O'Neil • Tru Valentino • Eric Winter • Mercedes Mason • Afton Williamson • Titus Makin
Characters John Nolan • Wesley Evers • Celina Juarez • Nyla Harper • Bailey Nune • Angela Lopez • Wade Grey • Lucy Chen • Aaron Thorsen • Tim Bradford • Zoe Andersen • Talia Bishop • Jackson West
Recurring cast Mircea Monroe • Currie Graham • Michael Beach • Sarah Shahi • Harold Perrineau • Ali Larter • Jasmine Mathews • Brandon Routh • Dylan Conrique • Brent Huff
Recurring characters Isabel Bradford • Ben McRee • Percy West • Jessica Russo • Nick Armstrong • Grace Sawyer • Rachel Hall • Doug Stanton • Tamara Colins • Quigley Smitty
Seasons 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
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