[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for NCIS Season 21 Episode 4 “Left Unsaid.”]
Okay, we’ll admit we have been amongst these hoping for an look from Particular Agent Kensi Blye tonight, contemplating the episode was directed by Daniela Ruah, who performed the badass agent on NCIS: LA from 2009 to 2023.
However we’re completely satisfied to have Ruah (who beforehand directed episodes of NCIS: LA) carry her figuring out eye to helming NCIS. “It was the primary time I used to be directing on ‘the mothership’ as we lovingly name it,” Ruah tells us in Case Closed, our NCIS aftershow. “It virtually didn’t matter what got here my approach by way of storyline, I simply wished to be a part of it and work with the crew and forged of NCIS. I used to be acquired with open arms – like a beautiful, heat hug.”
Her ardour for guiding confirmed on this basic case-of-the-week storyline the place the crew chased down a petty officer’s assassin, who turned out to be somebody slightly too near dwelling. It additionally included a comedic by line about Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) making an attempt to cover the truth that he typically cheated on his strict health routine from his new momentary roommate, boss Alden Parker (Gary Cole). “Wilmer’s a humorous man,” Ruah says. “He brings a comedic timing. My job is simply to seize it. Perhaps I throw in a doable improv.”
Sonja Flemming/CBS
Contemplating we final noticed Kensi within the NCIS: LA collection finale, discovering that her dream had come true, and he or she was lastly pregnant with hubs/fellow agent Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen), we needed to know if Ruah wonders as a lot as we do what her alter ego is doing now. As Ruah was sharing with us that she calculated Kensi’s due date and would all the time love the character she’d performed for thus lengthy, she realized she was sporting an outfit she’d taken dwelling from set that had been a part of Kensi’s onscreen wardrobe – sweater, denims, and signature boots. She cracks about how the writers might need labored Kensi’s motherhood right into a script: “Can we now have an episode with Kensi combating with a child in her arms? I wouldn’t put it previous her. Or is she out of the sport for a pair months?”
Ruah additionally advised us how she feels in regards to the upcoming Paramount+ collection (nicknamed) NCIS: Europe which reunites beloved NCIS couple Tony (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva (Cote de Pablo). “I feel it’s the most effective factor ever,” Ruah says. “That they had time to go off and do different issues. These roles are so establishing for us who’ve been forged members on the present. For them to choose up these two characters that folks fell so head over heels in love with — even I used to be delivery ‘Tiva’ — it’s a beautiful concept, and I’m so excited to look at it.”
As for a Kensi and Deeks spinoff? “I don’t know that I might see one within the close to future,” Ruah says. “Eric’s actually busy doing what he’s doing and loving that. I’m loving this. I might by no means say by no means, however within the close to future, that’s in all probability not on the desk. It’s essential for us to go and discover ourselves in different issues. The present was essential and particular to us, but it surely’s like leaving the nest.”
You’ll get to see Ruah’s behind-the-camera abilities once more in an episode of NCIS: Hawai’i developing in April. Ruah, who doesn’t seem within the hour, reveals that the plot takes deep dives into the characters and, “I feel it’s the darkest episode they’ve ever had. The crime that’s dedicated and what we discover out over the course of the episode…it’s not a nice story.”
Take a look at the video for extra from Ruah about working with Sean Murray and LL Cool J; what Brokers Kensi, Knight (Katrina Legislation), and Ziva have in widespread; and extra of her ideas on what it takes to direct a top-notch hour of TV. Hey, we might even see her pulling double responsibility sooner or later. Ruah tells us, “I’m not opposed in any respect to displaying up as Kensi in one of many NCIS exhibits.”
NCIS, Mondays, 9/8c, CBS
