The Rookie: What Happened To Elijah Stone & Where Is His Actor Now?

As with most police procedurals, ABC's "The Rookie” features a revolving cast of villains who factor into each episode's new police case — ranging from lowly drug dealers to full blown criminal masterminds. In addition to these one-and-done petty criminals (who usually find themselves locked away at the hands of Nathan Fillion's John Nolan), "The Rookie" also features plenty of recurring villains whose schemes can stump the LAPD for multiple seasons.

A few of these returning antagonists include the serial killer Rosalind Dyer (Annie Wersching), who killed seven people and later aided in the abduction of Lucy Chen (Melissa O'Neil), as well as the cartel leader, Elijah Stone (Brandon Jay McLaren). First appearing in Season 4's premiere, "Life and Death," Stone's first action in the series is to blackmail Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore) into becoming his personal crooked lawyer — promising that the cartel will visit his family if he doesn't cooperate.

Stone commits a slew of heinous crimes under Evers' protection, including assassinating one of his own henchmen in jail, threatening a witness in his cousin's murder trial, and eventually trying to murder Evers himself. In the end, Evers and Charlie Bristow (Preeti Desai) are able to fight him off and arrest him, though Stone would seek revenge in a cameo appearance for "The Rookie: Feds" spinoff. As of right now, Stone remains in prison in the world of "The Rookie," and unless he escapes later on in the series it seems like that's where he'll be staying for a long time.

Following his memorably intimidating performance as Elijah Stone on "The Rookie," actor Brandon Jay McLaren would go on to score two more prominent roles in the FX crime drama "Snowfall," and the Freeform comedy series "Everything's Trash."

In "Snowfall" Season 5, McLaren actually took a leaf out of John Nolan's book, playing former LAPD detective Beau Buckley, nicknamed "Redbone" for his light skin. Buckley struck a deal with Louie Saint (Angela Louis) to provide LAPD protection for her drug operation. Their relationship grew throughout the season, with Buckley eventually taking on an assassination job that led to his expulsion from the LAPD and his becoming an enforcer in Louie's crew.

In stark contrast to the corrupt officer he played on "Snowfall," McLaren's role in "Everything's Trash," is that of the political campaign manager Hamilton — who accidentally sleeps with the sister of his political opponent. While McLaren's only roles in 2023 thus far occurred in "Snowfall" and "The Rookie," one has to expect that the actor will find plenty more work in the future after this prominent string of recurring characters.