When you hear the name Australia, what comes to mind? “Everything can kill you is the first thing people talk to you about when you speak to anyone around the world,” quips Morgan O’Neill, executive producer of NCIS: Sydney, which CBS couldn’t resist after it was first intended to air on Paramount+ Australia. Then, O’Neill proudly cites the deadly snakes of his home country, the spider that “makes the black widow look like a lamb,” and, of course, crocs.
Two-legged baddies aren’t in short supply, either, on this fifth entry in the massively successful military crime franchise. Smugglers, drug dealers, and the like are in the crosshairs of the eclectic new team led by NCIS Special Agent Michelle Mackey (Olivia Swann). “She’s very hot-blooded,” Swann says. “It’s her way or the highway.” In the November 14 opener — the first of eight episodes — Mackey was serving as an agent afloat when a U.S. Navy sailor died in Sydney Harbour. To solve that case, she was partnered with savvy sergeant JD Dempsey (Todd Lasance) of the Australian Federal Police (similar to the FBI). “He loves banter, but he’s also a fierce operator,” says Lasance. (He and his costar spoke about the series earlier this year.)
At first, they were like two crocodiles wrestling. O’Neill declares, “You have this proud, courageous, antiauthoritarian Australian facing off against the might of the American military.” Nevertheless, their fruitful collaborative inquiry culminates in the establishment of NCIS Sydney, a new bureau, with Mackey thrillingly commandeering a helicopter and swooping over Sydney Harbor to pursue the culprits.
“With Sydney, we have a unique opportunity the other franchises didn’t — to see these guys on Day 1, establishing this team,” O’Neill says. “They end up being a good fit. JD works under Mackey, but in some ways runs the team while Mackey is freed to approach things in a maverick way. You’re going to see team building, bonding, and cracking — what people do when they’re forced to trust one another.”
Their unit counterparts are a chill American agent who trained as a lawyer, DeShawn Jackson (Sean Sagar), and AFP liaison officer Constable Evie Cooper (Tuuli Narkle), who teases him nonstop. “It’s a really Australian way of showing affection,” O’Neill says. On November 28, they go undercover as an engaged couple in an investigation that begins when a shark spits out an arm wearing U.S. Navy gear.
Clues come via a new set of NCIS geniuses: anxious forensic scientist Bluebird “Blue” Gleeson (Mavournee Hazel), who, despite her brains, has impostor syndrome, and AFP forensic pathologist Roy Penrose (William McInnes), who’s given up on life for reasons that will be revealed. “Blue reanimates Doc Roy’s emotional beating heart. He pretends to be curmudgeonly. But when she walks into the room, his world lights a little bit,” O’Neill says.
A lengthier story arc begins when Blue extracts information from the dive wrist computer of the mystery arm. O’Neill speculates that “something nefarious might be going on.” “This other organization is attempting to wrestle chaos from order, while NCIS is doing the same with chaos.” They are attempting to jeopardize regional stability and the security of the unique partnership between the United States and Australia. There are already issues being raised about U.S. Department of Defense attaché Richard Rankin (Lewis Fitz-Gerald): “Is he a good guy, a bad guy, or just hard to read?” Says O’Neill.
NCIS: Sydney, Tuesdays, 8/7c, CBS