Nikita’s Maggie Q and Shane West Spill Secrets About Their Sexy Spy Thriller
The third iteration of Luc Besson’s film La Femme Nikita to get adapted into a television series, Nikita is responsible for weekly jacking up audience heart rates and causing more than a few vicarious thrills every Friday night on The CW at 8:00 PM EST/7:00 PM C. Series stars Maggie Q (Nikita) and Shane West (Michael), and series producer/writer Albert Kim give us some exclusive intel on what’s to come this season. By Tara BennettAs prime time’s most dangerous couple on The CW’s spy thriller Nikita, Maggie Q and Shane West play former Division operatives on the run from the secret spy organization that trained them and then subsequently ruined their lives. Season 2 of Nikita finds the duo focused on a joint mission to bring the group down from the outside while tentatively reconciling their own complicated, romantic past. Here’s an edited version of our interview:
Snakkle: Season 2 has Michael and Nikita on the run, trying to bring down Division. When did you find out the show was going to make such a dramatic shift?
Maggie Q: [Executive producer] Craig Silverstein and I had an 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. chat with Scotch about three months before the end of season 1, and it was all season 2 talk. He had flown in for our Nikita hockey league, and that’s where I found out. He has up to season 3 mapped out in his head ,and he’s so wonderful. I was so excited about everyone’s journey in season 2. I was also excited about getting backstory with Nikita and going way back. I think by season 3 you don’t want to be in flashbacks and be completely forward driven.
Snakkle: Are you enjoying the changeup and being exclusively out in the field now?
Maggie Q: Season 2 is so different! Everything has shifted, so I don’t see Lyndsy [Fonseca] as Alex anymore, but I’m seeing Shane! I get to work with Aaron as Birkhoff, but I don’t ever see Xander anymore. It’s kind of what I love about the show because we can now explore new dynamics and see how those work and then change it up again.
Shane West: If there’s one thing we’re getting used to, or not getting used to, is how quickly things happen on this show. But every single episode is making us happier and happier. The new dynamic of them being on the run has proved to be difficult, but it’s great because they are thrown into a situation where they are together but the problems multiple. As soon as you want to get comfortable with these characters and these relationships, something jumps right in. I learned something this morning which I can’t share that spun my head for a second, and I have to let go and just trust it will work out.
Snakkle: Shane, it sounds like you feel a little out of sorts with Michael not being stable in Division now?
West: Last season, Shane was very comfortable in Divison and I do miss it because it was a lot of fun. Even though Amanda [Melinda Clarke] and Percy [Xander Berkeley] were obviously above Michael, I felt he ruled the nest too. We’re eight episodes in now, so it still feels fresh. I’m sure it will be a completely different answer by episode 18. Right now we feel like we are flying but the seat of our pants and while we—meaning me, Maggie, and Aaron [Stanford] as Birkhoff—are nervous because we’re on the run and we don’t have Division to hold on to, we hope that as time goes by we’ll be more comfortable. The scripts end up being great, but it’s always going to location, to location, to location, and that takes a lot out of you.
Snakkle: Where’s the story going as you head toward your winter break?
Albert Kim: We started the season with Alex and Nikita separated, but we knew all along they would come back together. Their parallel stories will start to see them move together—it won’t be direct or immediate, but you get the sense they are on a collision course. Meanwhile, Nikita and Michael will start to drift apart naturally. Something will come up that will make them question their relationship. Hopefully it won’t be in an annoying way but in an adult problem. They continue to love one another and want to be together, but they will start to diverge. We also want to have everyone head to one collision course around episode 10.
Snakkle: Shane, Nikita fans weren’t so happy to discover that Cassandra, a former operative your character romanced, had more pull on Michael’s heart than expected. Since you are a big Nikita fan, how do you feel about that revelation?
West: I think so much of his past was pretty much wrapped up in one year, but already there are surprises that are happening that I wasn’t sure I was on board with until I got the scripts with the story lines included. And once again it’s been phenomenal. Now my concern would be if there’s going to be a rift between Michael and Nikita that it’s done correctly and in a way that they come back from. And so far, so good. For me, in bringing a reality to every project that I do, it’s got to be believable if they bring someone back. There were weird issues on ER where all the doctors dated each other, but it was a successful show and they let it happen. I don’t want that on this show, so you’ve got to make it believable.
Snakkle: What’s been your biggest surprise while reading a script?
West: I wasn’t too surprised in season 1. I was told about how I got in Division, that I had a family and what happened to them, and that I was out for revenge. At the end of season 1, it was all there. This season is more difficult because with the addition of Cassandra [Helena Mattsson] I wonder if she will have a major role down the road. She was a part of my past that I was not aware of because I wasn’t told anything, so it was a full-on surprise. [Laughs]
Snakkle: Looking back at Once and Again: Next year it will be 10 years since the end of that fantastic series. Have the cast or creators talked about some kind of reunion?
West: We’ve all stayed connected pretty well. I’ve known Evan [Rachel Wood] forever, and I know Billy [Campbell]. I saw Billy right before the show started. Sela [Ward] I see occasionally. It would be great to do a reunion like that so I could see Julia [Whelan], Meredith [Deane], Susanna [Thompson], and Jeffrey [Nordling]. Hopefully we can do that soon but also get season 3 on DVD, for God’s sake!