Once Shane Harper donned a plaid shirt, rolled up his sleeves, and tightened his belt buckle at the camera test for NCIS: New York, he got the gist of just exactly who Special Agent Wyatt Sellers was.
Hailing from Alaska and arriving in New York on the heels of his fiancée leaving him, Wyatt has a “built-in dynamic of loss in his life” that he’s “trying to come back from” in the latest NCIS spin-off, Harper told DECIDER during a visit to our studio this week.
“I think you immediately get a sense for who he is as a character as a result of that,” he explained. “It also adds to this idea that he’s kind of a fish out of water.”
Another integral aspect of Wyatt’s character is his nickname, “Milkman,” bestowed upon him by his colleague Nick Schaeffer (Scott Caan). Why, you might ask? As Nick informs Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) in the pilot while introducing the squad, Wyatt drank “20 ounces of whole milk in a glass” while out to dinner with the team. As for whether Harper had the pleasure of drinking such excessive quantities of milk on set, he recalled doing so for a scene that ultimately didn’t air.
“We had, like, 20 minutes of extra footage from the pilot that had to get cut—which was a good thing, [because it] means there was a lot of great stuff. But there’s a scene that got cut at the end,” he elaborated. “We’d just taken the bad guys down, and we’re all just kind of like relaxing after a long day, and I pour this giant glass of milk, and I chug the whole thing. We filmed that, and it’s not in the pilot. I had to drink like four or five glasses of it. But you know, I’m committed to my craft, I guess.”
For more on whether fans can expect sparks to fly between Wyatt and Special Agent Addy Ross (Jacquelie Byers), the “natural” chemistry between Harper and his co-stars, and his thoughts on the “iconic” Good Luck Charlie diss track about his character Spencer Walsh, check out our full conversation with Harper below.
DECIDER: When viewers are introduced to your character, Special Agent Wyatt Sellers, he’s attempting to return an engagement ring.
SHANE HARPER: Yeah, failing [laughs].
And we learned that his fiance had left him. What was your reaction to learning about Wyatt’s backstory when you got the role, and will we learn more about this past relationship with his?
I like that there’s this kind of built-in dynamic of loss in his life, and he’s trying to come back from it and figure it out. I think you immediately get a sense for who he is as a character as a result of that. It also adds to this idea that he’s kind of a fish out of water. He’s from Alaska and he has only been in New York City for 10 months, and 10 months is not long enough to get a grip on New York. You need a little bit longer than that, I think. So I think all of that built in just to the pilot for me was like enough to kind of get started. And then once they threw me in those plaid shirts, I was like, “Okay, I know who this guy is.” And the belt buckle. I remember we were doing our camera test—like our makeup test and outfit test for the show before we started filming—and they gave me this big belt buckle to put on. I was like, I think I know who this guy is. It was very helpful. The clothes inform a lot of what we do.
You put it on, and you immediately feel in character.
Yeah, I was like, okay, I got the rolled up sleeves of the plaid shirt, the belt buckle. I’m like, he is from Alaska. I feel it. I get it.
Wyatt is also called “Milkman” by Nick and his team for having milk as his drink of choice while out to dinner. Is this something that you can identify with personally, and did you have to drink any milk over the course of shooting? Or have you gotten to yet?
Yes, yes, good. I’m glad we can touch on the milk. We’ll just get it out in the room. I was a big milk drinker when I was a kid. I really loved milk when I was a kid. Not so much anymore as an adult. I mean, I’ll get milk in my coffee. But yeah, I did have to drink [milk]. We had, like, 20 minutes of extra footage from the pilot that had to get cut—which was a good thing, [because it] means there was a lot of great stuff. But there’s a scene that got cut at the end. We’d just taken the bad guys down and we’re all just kind of like relaxing after a long day, and I pour this giant glass of milk and I chug the whole thing. We filmed that and it’s not in the pilot. I had to drink like four or five glasses of it. But you know, I’m committed to my craft, I guess.
Hopefully you’re not lactose intolerant.
No, I’m not. But I had not had that much milk in such a long time and I was like, “I don’t know how this is gonna go.” The funny thing [is] Ian, our prop master was like, “What do you want? Do you want oat milk? Almond milk? Regular milk??” It needs to be like a very white glass, so it should be a whole milk, or at least a version of that. Because almond milk is a different color. So I was just like, “Give me the real thing.” And it wasn’t that bad. It was fine.
In NCIS: New York, Wyatt works really closely with Special Agent Addy Ross, played by Jacqueline Byers. The two of you are sent out into the field together. In Episode 2, we see you two get into some of the politics of online dating, as well. Could we see some sparks fly potentially between the two of you? And tell me more about working with Jacqueline.
I’m glad you brought this up. I’m very curious myself what is in store for those two characters. I think Jackie and I have our own opinions of where it may go. I think it’ll be a fun relationship dynamic for the fans to think about and different fan theories. And we’ll see. I think that they’re very opposite, but sometimes we know that opposites attract, so you don’t know… It could get very interesting. And working with Jackie is wonderful. We met, actually, at our chemistry test for the show. So we had to get in front of the network and do that whole song and dance. It was actually really fun. And we found something in the room that we’ve just been carrying through working together. There’s a lot of natural chemistry between us and we riff off of each other. It’s a great balance working with her on set and we really enjoy it. She’s great. And she’s been in New York for almost 10 years now, so It’s very similar to me moving to New York for this show. She’s been in New York. This is kind of a natural imitation of life that’s happening there with the characters. So it’s fun.
Wyatt accidentally hits a nerve a little bit while bringing up Addy’s father in the pilot, who she seems to have a complicated relationship with. He had called him a “legend,” she called him a “felon.” Will the series explore more of this origin story and her background?
Definitely, we’re starting to, especially right now. No spoilers, but there’s certainly going to be more exploration of that dynamic, particularly with her dad, which informs, I think, a lot of what her natural kind of persona in the show [is]. I think [it] stems from the relationship with her father and the way that she grew up. We’ve introduced these new characters. Obviously, the universe is very familiar to a lot people. But we’re about halfway through filming, and we’re really starting to kind of understand the characters more and dig into their backstories, and kind what makes them tick, which I think for audiences is really, really fun.
You mentioned this before, but Wyatt is new to New York from Alaska. This series is being shot
on location in New York. What has become your favorite location to shoot at, and what’s the experience been like?
In the pilot, we have this scene where we’re at a park bench and for that scene, we were in Central Park. That was one of our very first days filming, and it’s kind of hard to top that. When I walked onto the set, I was like, “I can’t believe we’re filming in Central Park. What a dream.” So we’re in all the boroughs, we are everywhere. New York has such a diversity of culture and vibes. Like everywhere you go, not one place is the same. So it’s fun to get thrown into wherever you are. But Central Park is kind of a bucket list [item]. To be able to have a full film crew in Central Park working on a show is kind of a dream. It was really exciting.
NCIS: New York teams up franchise alum LL Cool J with Hawaii Five-0 star Scott Caan. What can fans expect from this iconic partnership, and what has it been like working them?
They’re great. These stars that have been on massive TV shows for many, many, many years, you never know how it’s going to be when you show up, especially as the new kid on set. But they’ve been nothing but really warm and welcoming, and Todd—LL, you know, we call him Todd because that’s what he likes to be referred to from the people that he knows and the people he worked with—but he’s just been unbelievably supportive, and he’s a great number one. He’s really encouraging of everybody to do their thing, and that’s nice. For being as famous for as long as he’s been and still be[ing] relatable and cool and just wonderful to work with, I think it speaks volumes. It’s great to work within. We have a really fun time. There’s a natural cast chemistry that we feel and hope that audiences will pick up on, as well.
When we did our table read for the network, like the first day, and everyone’s so nervous—I was very nervous. I hadn’t done a big table read like that in a long time, because to be honest, networks don’t do them that much anymore; especially those, like the catering, all the network execs are there, and the big table, and they filmed it. The nerves were high, and no one had seen them do their dialogue together. When they started riffing at the table read, I think everyone looked around. They were like, “I think we really got something.” The two of them together, they have a chemistry that I think the show will be able to ride on for a really long time. Personally I just love watching them on screen together and being able to do scenes with them.
Having watched the first two episodes, I completely agree.
Right? You can feel it. There’s [a] dynamic between them. You can’t really make that up. You either kind of have that chemistry or not, and the buddy cop thing while also feeling grounded. They just have it. They’re very good together.’
Brian Dietzen also made an appearance in the first episode as Jimmy Palmer. Can we potentially expect more cameos or crossovers with other shows in the NCIS universe?
Yeah, I’ll defer to our showrunner, Byron Belasco. He’s always like, “Anything can happen.” That’s how he answers that question. He says that anything can happen, and certainly will happen, as far as crossovers. There’s a lot of talent to draw on in the NCIS universe and a lot of really prominent characters that would be fun to kind of interplay with ours. So I definitely think you’ll see more of that.
We also have Jennifer Beals as Assistant Special Agent in Charge Robyn Wells.
The Jennifer Beals! It’s so cool.
What has it been like working with her, as well?
She’s wonderful, she’s so gracious. Her star power, like when she walks in a room, you just feel it. You feel at ease, you feel relaxed. She’s a great scene partner. She has really good creative ideas, and she’s just effortless. And she has to deliver the kind of dialogue that would make most actors like be like, “I can’t do this.” Like ,pages of [dialogue]— you know, because she’s always talking about the cases, she is our boss. So she comes in and she has to break down these cases, and the way that she just floats through the dialog and makes it feel so real and fun and engaging, it’s really great to watch. I’m learning a lot from her just kind of watching her work and how she approaches being on set. But it’s very fun.
Another core member of the team is Sean Sullivan. I’m really intrigued by his backstory. In order to avoid prison time for hacking into the police pension fund, he’s helping out in NCIS and NYPD.
Yeah, what a backstory, huh?
Will we learn more about his background over the course of the series?
Yeah, they’ve already been cracking into that a fair bit in the last few episodes. A lot of that backstory for all the characters is ramping up right now, kind of halfway through the season, now that we’ve kind of established them. But yeah, he has a great backstory and it’s a very fun character to watch. When I first saw the pilot, he was my favorite. He was just cracking me up. And Devin Druid, who plays Sean, is a really creative actor and always has fun ideas. I want to know more about it, too. I mean, this whole hacking thing into the pension fund… I think it’s so specific and funny and makes a lot of sense. And also back to Sean’s relationship with Robyn. The two of them—like Jennifer and Devin on set together—they have so much chemistry and it’s really fun to see them riff as well. They’re a great pairing.
With this being a procedural, I wanted to ask what it’s like taking on a new case each episode?
It’s actually kind of difficult because as the episodes turn over—you know, we shoot these episodes in about eight days and it’s always a new and interesting, obviously a new case each time. So you’re solving the current case, and then you get the next script and you have to go figure out what that case is. There’s always the red herring, there’s the bait and switch, and you have to really pay attention to what’s happening in the script. And I say that [because]… there’s these very funny stories of actors that will just read their scenes. I don’t do that, but you know it hasn’t not been done, which I think is hilarious. But with this show, you really have to read it cover to cover, know what’s happening, know your part in solving the cases. And I think our writers’ room and our showrunner Byron do such a good job of creating fun new cases each time that always come back to the Navy. I don’t know how they do that, but it always has to be Navy-related, which is the thing I find the most fascinating about them writing the show. It can’t just be any case. It has to tie back to Navy, which is cool.
Shifting gears a little bit, at DECIDER, we’re a website that celebrates all things streaming. So what shows or movies are you watching right now? What have you been into lately?
Okay, cool. Everyone, I might catch shade for being this late to the game, but I’m watching Game of Thrones. I’m like halfway through Season 5. I know. I know it’s not current, but I’m enjoying it. But very late to game on that. I also like Mobland. I like MobLand a lot. Yeah, anything that Tom Hardy’s in.
And if I may ask, because I grew up watching Good Luck Charlie…
Yeah, yeah.
… and I must say, your character, Spencer Walsh, has one of the best diss tracks ever written about him.
Iconic. I mean, me saying it’s iconic is a little bit cringy, I understand. But it is. We get stopped about that. Like, “Oh, that song, it’s so catchy.” Yeah, it exists in the ether.
I was going to say, does it still come up to this day?
Oh yeah. I talk to people all the time. It’s funny, a show like that—growing up doing TV shows as a kid is a very strange way to grow up and interfacing with the world after is kind of odd. So even getting stopped for something like that or a line that someone remembers and being like, “I grew up on this and it’s a part of my childhood,” it’s really heartwarming. It’s nice. But yeah, the diss track actually just came up last week. This girl was sitting next to us in a coffee shop and she was like, “I sing that song all the time.” And I was like, “Thanks. That’s nice. I’m glad.” She was like, “You were my childhood. Thank you.” The thing that people always say, which is sweet. Honestly, I love that. I think when we were working on that show, you don’t expect it to have [such longevity]… I love the process of being on set and making shows and I do my best and I love my work, but something becoming that popular for so long, you just don’t know when that’s gonna happen. So it’s very interesting being this far removed from it, having it still be a big part of people’s lives. It’s really special.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
New episodes of NCIS: New York air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, with next-day streaming available on Paramount+.
