Staying In

Nikita is back tomorrow night at 9 p.m. with a new episode, and she’s kicking ass. Not only is Maggie Q’s escaped Division agent one kick-ass woman, but the CW series is also firing on all cylinders with a recent string of tense, action-packed and twisty hours. I caught up with Maggie Q at the CW’s cocktail reception at TCA Press Tour and asked her about filming that explosive mid-season finale while chained up, what’s ahead for Alex, Nikita and Michael’s backstory, and her new love interests.

That was one heck of a mid-season finale, I have to say.

It really was. Yeah. It was crazy.

The scene where you’re in the chains, you break off them and then you whip them around, what was that filming like?

It was tough. It was tough. You know, my feet weren’t technically touching the ground.  My toes were grazing, so I was really being pulled. We wanted to make it as real as possible. Her pulling up on that stuff, that’s all me. Nothing’s pulling me up. Yeah, it was crazy.

How many hours were you like that?

That was a whole day. Yeah. That was really tough.

I really felt like you guys, in the last three or four episodes, really found what the show is going to be. What do you think kind of changed that made it work?

Well, I mean in your first season it takes time to be able to get into your groove. It takes time to be able to find your casing, you know? Especially with your characters and their backstories and things coming out and moving things forward. You know, the first season is tough. It’s like the toughest thing you can do. I think if you can get through it and get people’s attention, you’ll be good.

Are we going to be learning more about the backstories?

Yeah. Honestly, with Nikita, we haven’t even really touched on her backstory. I think part of the reason is her past is very long and very sorted. With a character like Alex, she’s a kid. So it’s sort of like you can find out what happened to her in an episode or two. Whereas with Nikita, you won’t know about what her deal is for a couple seasons.

Are there going to be flashbacks again this season?

Absolutely. Division days.

What about pre-Division?

Not pre-Division yet, but definitely young Nikita in Division. That dynamic, which is cool.  So she gets to go back in there with Michael and Percy and Birkhoff and you get to see their relationships, which will be nice. Also, there’s going to be some developments on the Michael/Nikita front.

I find that relationship utterly fascinating.

Isn’t it?!

Because it’s almost like he’s reliving that relationship through Alex.

Well, the irony is that everything that Alex is about, it is Nikita. She made her. So if he’s relating to anything, it’s still the person that he loved. Do you know what I’m saying? So it’s really interesting. It is.

Do you think something actually happened between them or was it more like they just had feelings for each other?

Oh no, something happened.

Are we going to learn what happened?

Oh yeah. Yes, you’re going to learn. … It’s very tensely plotted out.  We’ll see where it goes.

Weird question: I thought Michael yelled a Russian curse word at you in the episode where you tried to stop him from killing.

No. He didn’t speak Russian in that episode. Only I did. … He might have yelled something, but it wasn’t Russian. Because Shane hasn’t had to take Russian lessons until this episode that we’re shooting now.  I’m the only one who’s been speaking all the languages.

What are you guys doing?  Are you going to Russia?

In that episode, I was dealing with the Russians. We were in Kazakhstan, so there’s a lot of Russians there. In this episode, it’s a flashback to Nikita again dealing with the Russians during her days working for Division. So there’s a lot more Russian in this episode too.

Now that Alex is on the outside, how is that going to change the dynamic with Nikita and Alex and Alex helping her?

I think that Alex was certainly more valuable on the inside. This graduation has been premature. It makes Nikita very nervous because she doesn’t think she’s ready. So the logistics are going to change and become a lot harder. It’s not like she gets out and they can go on missions together. I mean she’s still being watched. She’s out, but she’s not free. So Nikita’s going to have to work harder to create a plan that brings them together of sorts, but also still keeps them out of the threat of Division finding out. So that’s going to be tougher. Tougher rather than easier.

It seems they’re bringing in a new love interest for you in this agent.

A couple actually.

Who are the other ones?

Well, we’ve got Owen and then we’ve got Ryan Fletcher now. So there’s a lot of people that are coming who are creating question marks.

What is her relationship with Ryan going to like?

He’s an asset and an ally to her right now. I think her building her ally base is smart because obviously she can’t do it alone. We’re going to see in the first episode coming up after the break – a little bit more about the two of them and what they’re doing together and how that’s working. So yeah,it’s interesting. It’s going to be interesting.