Don’t get us wrong, the Australia-set NCIS: Sydney, premiering Stateside this Tuesday on CBS, boasts a terrific cast, and one that is 66% Australian (plus two Brits).
But Sydney native and CBS procedural vet Alex O’Loughlin was right there, people. (Well, somewhere. I’m not entirely sure what he is up to these days, three-and-a-half years after the Hawaii Five-0 reboot said aloha.)
As such, “Where the hell is Alex?” is a question I may have directly asked NCIS: Sydney creator Morgan O’Neill during our recent, in-depth convo.
O’Neill and I shared in a chuckle, after which he said, “Look, we haven’t written off the possibility of him popping up.
“Alex is a fantastic actor, as you would well know,” the Aussie EP added, before launching into a celebration of the land Down Under’s countless, fine contributions to the U.S. television scene. (Think Chuck‘s Yvonne Strahovski, House‘s Jesse Spencer, The Mentalist‘s Simon Baker, Damages‘ Rose Byrne, Fringe‘s Anna Torv and John Noble, Brotherhood‘s Jason Clarke…. The list goes on, and on.)
“I don’t know what it is in the water down here, but Australians have a tendency to kind of bat a bit out of our weight category when it comes to producing actors and creative people,” O’Neill proudly observed. “So, I’m pretty sure Alex will pop up somewhere. He’s a fantastic actor and a good guy.”
NCIS: Sydney Boss Previews Aussie Offshoot, Nods to Other NCIS Shows
In NCIS: Sydney, U.S. NCIS Agents and members of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are grafted into a “multi-national task force, to keep naval crimes in check in the most contested patch of ocean on the planet.” Olivia Swann (Legends of Tomorrow) and Todd Lasance (Spartacus: War of the Damned) lead the cast as, respectively, NCIS Special Agent Michelle Mackey and her 2IC AFP counterpart, Sergeant Jim “JD” Dempsey. Rounding out the merged team are Sean Sagar (Fate: The Winx Saga) as NCIS Special Agent DeShawn Jackson, Tuuli Narkle (Bad Behaviour) as AFP liaison officer Constable Evie Cooper, Mavournee Hazel (Neighbours) as AFP forensic scientist Bluebird “Blue” Gleeson, and William McInnes (Blue Heelers) as AFP forensic pathologist Dr. Roy Penrose.
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