Jennifer Beals has officially joined the “NCIS” universe.
The film and TV veteran now stars alongside LL COOL J and Scott Caan on the new spin-off “NCIS: New York,” airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBS, where she plays Robyn Wells, the team’s supervisor at the New York field office. So what sold her on the role?
“I got a call from [showrunner] Byron Balasco, with whom I had worked previously,” Beals tells TVLine, “and he told me a little bit about the character and how he wanted to make her a different type of leader.” Plus, “about seven minutes into the call, he told me that I would have a dog in the office, and that was a huge selling point,” she adds with a laugh. “I think that might have just tipped it right over.” (More on the prized pooch later.)
Beals “didn’t really know” the “NCIS” franchise “at all” before signing on to play Robyn, she admits, but “Byron said he wanted to do something very different… He wanted to make it a little bit more character-driven, and get into relationships. And I feel like we’re doing that, and certainly making New York truly a character.”
The NCIS: New York ensemble is ‘a really dynamic team’
On “NCIS: New York,” Robyn leads a team of special agents including LL COOL J’s Sam Hanna (of “NCIS: Los Angeles” fame), and though we haven’t seen much of her backstory yet on the show, Jennifer Beals explains “she’s an attorney. She was at the SDNY [Southern District of New York], and she left the SDNY.” Beals notes that Robyn is “really supportive of her team, but will draw the line when it needs to be drawn.” Plus, she “has a sense of humor, which I really enjoy.” Robyn “has a tremendous amount of respect for Sam, and it’s amazing that she was able to get him on the team, and she respects Addy and Wyatt… Everybody has their own superpower, kind of, and it makes for a really dynamic team.”
Out of the whole group, though, Scott Caan’s Nick is “the closest thing to friendship” for Robyn, Beals says. “Her relationship with Nick is the longest,” and “if there was anybody on that team that she would confide something to, it’s probably Nick.” Beals also points out that Robyn does wear a wedding ring, so “you know she’s married, and you find out later what her husband is like, and what that marriage is like.” She even teases that “we’ll see how her husband’s ambitions maybe divert from her own.” We don’t know what Robyn’s husband does for a living yet… but “you will,” she hints.
Beals raves about her canine co-star
But the biggest selling point for Jennifer Beals might be sharing scenes with Robyn’s dog Sid, played by a Labrador/Staffordshire/pit bull terrier mix named Dunkin. “Oh my God, I love Dunkin,” Beals gushes. “In my dressing room, I have a whole bunch of little presents. Every time he comes to set, I give him something new. His owner said that there are two places he’s really, really happy to go to. One is the beach, and one is the studio.”
Dunkin is “so unbelievable in scenes,” too, Beals notes proudly. “I had a scene with Nick the other day, and Nick addresses him, and Dunkin just looks at him so perfectly… He’s really photogenic and super smart.” Beals even got to cast the dog herself, she reveals: “They sent a bunch of videos of different dogs, and they were all so cute and so beautiful and smart… But he had so much character. And I liked that he was older, because it spoke to their relationship, how long they’d known each other. She’s had him a while.”
How are you liking Robyn — and her dog Sid — so far on “NCIS: New York”? Give us your take in a comment below!
