In just a week, the long-running NCIS franchise is expanding into international waters. NCIS: Sydney is heading to CBS this month, which is a prospect that's sure to excite fans. Headed by Olivia Swann and Todd Lasance, the series will see a team of U.S. NCIS Agents forming a task force with the Australian Federal Police as they investigate naval crimes in the titular city. Of course, a fresh crop of characters had to be developed for the procedural, and its showrunner just spoke about crafting a forensic scientist that doesn't feel too similar to Pauley Perrette’s Abby Sciuto.
This is the fifth series in the franchise, and each of the programs feature unique rosters of characters. On that note, it's easy to imagine that the writers and producers could run into challenges when it comes to keeping said individuals distinct. In an interview with TV Insider, Sydney showrunner Morgan O’Neill what fans can expect from the show's major players. Amid that, he also weighed in on how he and his team sought not to replicate the flagship show's iconic Abby through one of the new faces:
The challenge when you’re creating another iteration of such a famous franchise is that you don’t want to repeat characters. You don’t want to just take the cookie-cutter version of something and make it your own. And when it comes to a character like the forensic scientist in a show like this, people go so quickly to the character of Abby [Pauley Perrette] because she’s so iconic. She kind of defined that role. We wanted to make sure that we weren’t replicating that.
Sciuto definitely brought a lot of life to the OG show, and all of that was because of Pauley Perrette's spirited performance. While Perrette ultimately left the show during Season 15 due to some on-set issues and is still missed. It’s hard to replicate that same kind of magic she had and arguably even more difficult to avoid copying it. When it comes to the cast of NCIS: Sydney, the character who fits Abby's mold is Bluebird Gleeson. Luckily, Morgan O’Neill and co. were able to find ways to make her unique:
Then we found Mavournee Hazel, who plays Bluebird Gleeson, who is out of her depth. She has complete imposter syndrome, like she shouldn’t be there. She’s too young, she’s too inexperienced. She’s carrying a whole bunch of really unusual, interesting backstory that we’ll peel away as the seasons go on. But she’s incredibly good at her job. She’s kind of socially awkward. I just found the combination of all those things made her feel very real to me. I’ve worked with a lot of people who work in the world of science, and she just felt like she resonated that sense of intellectual power and social awkwardness, which I loved.
I'm exciting to see how the writers and producers dig into these characters and make us feel for them. It seems like the team has really worked hard at making the series different from its predecessors. That's admirable, as working on a new series for a franchise that has been around for 20 years is no easy feat. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, though, and look forward to seeing what Mavournee Hazel brings to Bluebird.
Like its predecessors, Sydney will still reference the other shows from time to time. While it may be hard to do crossovers with the series filming and taking place in a different continent, I'm hopeful they'll happen. Such events would not only be fun for funs but would also help Morgan O'Neill and his team truly show just how his characters contrast from the likes of Abby Sciuto, Leroy Jethro Gibbs and more.
NCIS: Sydney premieres Tuesday, November 14 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS! Episodes will also be streaming the following day for those with a Paramount+ subscription. Be sure to check out the 2023 TV schedule to see what else to catch for the remainder of the year.
