NCIS: Sydney returned to CBS on Friday, February 7 with a major reveal about its protagonist. Season 2, episode 1, titled “Heart Starter” sees Mackey and JD temporarily released from their duties while Niemus’ escape is investigated. Special Agent DeShawn Jackson takes charge of the team, but the NCIS and AFP leaders team up on their own to solve the finale’s Rankin mystery. In a heartfelt moment, Mackey tells JD that she has a 17-year-old son, showcasing the trust that’s formed between them throughout NCIS: Sydney season 1.
Although the two clashed when they first began working together, Olivia Swann, who portrays Special Agent Michelle Mackey, enjoys the turn their relationship has taken. The star teases that Mackey and JD will have a lighter dynamic in season 2, as the two gradually begin to open up to one another. Swann also weighs in on a potential romance between the co-leaders, admitting that it may be a difficult storyline to navigate.
Swann Discusses The Team’s United Front In NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 1
“Them taking the fall is a really lovely way to kind of solidify from the beginning of this season that we are a team.”
ScreenRant: What were your original theories about Rankin? Did you think that he was working with Niemus?
Olivia Swann: That’s a good question. The end of season 1 is literally just staring him down, boom, end. So with that, it was anyone’s guess. I was like, “Okay, he’s obviously not a good person. He’s doing something bad.” But when he collapses, that’s kind of when it’s like, “There’s more to this than meets the eye. And I love how it kind of gets your brain going and the mind whirring to be like, “What on earth is happening?” And it happens to us when we read the script.
Mackey was forced to step back in the premiere, but everyone had her and JD’s backs. They even tried to take the fall for losing Niemus. How do you feel that willingness to sacrifice for one another makes them a better team?
Olivia Swann: I think it’s so important, and I love that addition to it because I think what we see so much in this episode is, obviously, Mackey and JD have been benched. Technically, they shouldn’t do anything, but obviously they do, and they go off and do their own thing. But what I love is that the team kind of take their own initiative and also kind of take inspiration from their bosses and continue to do things that they probably shouldn’t.
And them taking the fall is a really lovely way to kind of solidify from the beginning of this season that we are a team, and we do have each other’s backs, and maybe we shouldn’t do things in the way we do, but we’ve got you. And even filming that bit where we see them saying, “It was me. I did it,” that got me a little bit. I got quite emotional because I was like, “Oh, this is a really lovely moment for the team.”
A Romance Between Mackey And JD Could Be “Messy” In NCIS: Sydney
“There are a lot of different ways to go with it. I don’t know how I feel about it.”
Mackey is very guarded, we don’t know a lot about her, but she opens up to JD about having a son. Can you talk about her feeling comfortable enough to finally share that?
Olivia Swann: I love it. I think it’s a wonderful choice to reveal it, one, in this way, and, two, to JD. I think it shows the magnitude of where they’re at at that point. It’s literally the end of the road for both of them, they feel. So they’re kind of at this moment of, “It doesn’t matter in a way that you know this, because, technically, I’m not going to see you again.”
But I love that it kind of shifts into this ultimate trust because I think, for Mackey, that secret is huge, and I don’t think many people know that about her. So her choice to actually just answer the phone, answer his questions, is a really specific one. And I think that resonates with JD as well. And we do get to see this level of trust build throughout the season, which I think is one of my favorite things about this season. But also, we see how it gets tested as well, which is very exciting.
How do you feel about the way Mackey and JD’s partnership has evolved since the beginning of the show? They definitely weren’t the best of friends.
Olivia Swann: No, they were not. And as much as I do love the initial conflict, what I’ve loved about this season is we get to see this really fun, kind of easy dynamic between them that builds, and you see them bouncing off one another and working together and thinking together on their feet and just having a bit of fun with each other.
And there’s a bit of taking a p*ss and ribbing one another. And that is a really cool dynamic that we get to see from Mackey too. I think we’ve seen JD do it to Mackey in season 1, but not necessarily the other way around. And so we get to see a little lighter side to Mackey with her in the dynamic.
There seemed to be some romantic seeds planted in the season 2 premiere for Mackey and JD. What do you think the potential complications of a romance between them would be?
Olivia Swann: I think it would be pretty messy. How would they navigate that? Would they be like, “We should focus on the team,” or “We could maybe make things work,” or “Absolutely not”? There are a lot of different ways to go with it. I don’t know how I feel about it. I don’t even know what the plan is there. They’re just two people getting to know each other and working together. That’s all I’m saying.
NCIS: Sydney Season 2 Will Provide More Insight Into The Characters’ Backstories
“You get a broader sense of the dynamic of the team as a whole.”
There’s still so much we don’t know about Mackey. Will we get more answers about her backstory and her time in the Marines in season 2?
Olivia Swann: A lot gets dropped in Episode 1, so I guess tiny bits here and there, but I think that as the season continues, we get a sense of lots of other characters as well. So it’s kind of revealing backstories of characters that we’ve maybe not had the backstory of in season 1. You get a broader sense of the dynamic of the team as a whole. It’s bits about everyone that comes together as a whole for the team.
I’m excited to learn about them too. There were only eight episodes in season 1 so it feels like there’s a lot to unpack.
Olivia Swann: Exactly. I’m the same. I love knowing about characters. I love knowing about details and things that make them tick and how they think and why they’re like this. So I’m always the same. Every time I get a script, I’m combing through it to find out more information to just add depth and detail.
The car chase scene was intense and you both ended up upside down. Were there any challenges that came with filming that sequence?
Olivia Swann: I loved it. There were no challenges for me. I was in the passenger seat, so Todd was driving and kind of hooking it pretty fast. We had a stretch of road here and there that we would use. It was just really fun. When you are in it like that, you’re not just sitting in a stationary vehicle and someone’s moving you.
You’re actually moving, which adds to the adrenaline, adds to all of that stuff. I think, initially, we weren’t going to be upside down, but then either I asked or stunts were like, “Oh, do you want to try?” And I was like, “Yes!” I was speaking for Todd as well. I don’t know if he wanted to do it, but I was like, “Yeah, we’re doing it. Let’s go.” [Laughs] And so that’s how we ended up. They built this massive rig where we were upside down in the ambulance.
It’s just so cool. It’s really, really good fun. And whenever I get a chance to be part of that and actually do it, I’m always like, “Yeah!” We had to get into it upside down, so we had to do a headstand and then kick our legs up into the seat and then they’d strap us in. So that was probably the hardest part, to be honest.
Swann Teases What NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 1’s Twist Means Going Forward
“It’s definitely something that remains a mystery throughout the season, which is so engaging and so exciting, and the payoff is great.”
Were you surprised that Mackey was the one who took down Niemus? I actually thought it was going to be JD.
Olivia Swann: I don’t think I was surprised, but I think that it does show the difference between Mackey and JD. JD is very heart-led, and there’s always something about him that will want to, not forgive, because I think in that situation, you can’t forgive that. But there was a hesitation there from him for whatever reason that is. I think that’s maybe because he’s slightly more leading from the heart, whereas Mackey is like, “No, this person needs to get taken down, and it’s my job.”
And also she can see that JD isn’t firing. There’s something there, which means that she has to act and do the thing that, for whatever reason, he isn’t going to do. And so she’s almost stepping up for him. I think she knows he wants to, but there’s something stopping him. So she’s almost taking that choice away from him so he doesn’t have to feel bad about it later.
The team faked Rankin’s death. What can you tease about where we go from here?
Olivia Swann: It’s very much a kind of interwoven thread throughout the season, so it’s not like a super quick wrap-it-up, we know what happens. It’s definitely something that remains a mystery throughout the season, which is so engaging and so exciting, and the payoff is great. It’s definitely worth the intrigue, for sure.
Do you have any personal theories about Mackey or any storylines that you are hoping will get explored in the future?
Olivia Swann: I just always want to delve into her past, I think. And I’d love to maybe do a flashback to her as a kid or just learn maybe what made her the person that she is today. And I think there’s always such a big scope for that. But also just anything action-based I would love to do more of. That would be fantastic.
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About NCIS: Sydney On CBS
Executive Produced By Morgan O’Neill, Sara Richardson, Michele Bennett, And Louisa Kors
NCIS: Sydney is the fifth series to come out of the popular global NCIS franchise and the first-ever international edition. With rising international tensions in the Indo-Pacific, a brilliant and eclectic team of U.S. NCIS agents and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are grafted into a multinational taskforce to keep naval crimes in check in the most contested patch of ocean on the planet. Led by NCIS Special Agent Michelle Mackey and her 2IC AFP counterpart, Sergeant Jim “JD” Dempsey, our team of Americans and Aussies must quickly learn to trust each other, overcoming and harnessing their differences to solve each case.
NCIS: Sydney season 2 airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and is available to stream next-day on Paramount+.