As Boots is finding success on Netflix, one of the show’s leads had a fun guest appearance during Elsbeth‘s hostage episode.
The CBS series aired a new episode on Thursday, October 16, with a murder investigation at a famous New York toy store that turned into a crisis. Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) is at the store at the time, which led to her negotiating with the ex-con accidentally running the show: Nolan (David Cross).
Fans of Netflix’s hit military series, however, may have gotten distracted with the newest cop who accompanied Elsbeth to the crime scene. Thursday’s episode introduced Officer Mike Summerville, who is played by Angus O’Brien a.k.a Hicks from Boots.
Boots, which premiered on October 9, follows Cameron (Miles Heizer) as he joins the American military alongside his best friend Ray (Liam Oh) during the 1990s. Cameron has to hide his sexuality while trying to make it through basic training alongside Slovacek (Kieron Moore), Hicks (O’Brien), Nash (Dominic Goodman), John (Blake Burt), Cody (Brandon Tyler Moore) and Ochoa (Johnathan Nieves).
O’Brien recently discussed exclusively with Us Weekly the way Boots created a conversation about authenticity.
“The experience of shooting the show was a reminder to me that no matter how different we might think we are from someone, ultimately we want the same things. We want to be happy, we want to be respected and we want to live a life that’s fulfilled,” he noted. “What’s so beautiful about the show is that you have all these guys from very different walks of life who wouldn’t necessarily think to depend on each other. Because of the situation that they’re in, they’re forced to rely on each other and they realize through that how powerful it is to depend on someone who has lived a different life than you — and how many lessons there are to learn from that.”
The actor expressed hope that viewers took that message away from the show, saying, “There are people to depend on and to rely on in all different walks of life. Don’t count someone out just because you think they’re not going to support you. They might. They want the same things you do.”
O’Brien’s role on Elsbeth, meanwhile, comes as Elsbeth has had to adjust to work without Kaya (Carra Patterson) by her side. Fans were surprised when season 2 ended with Patterson departing the show as a series regular.
“It’s been in development since the beginning of season 2,” Preston told Us in May. “We wanted to honor her and elevate her to detective. So it was very exciting when that happened for the character. Not as exciting for us though because we love Carra. I love Carra and I obviously love playing with her.”
Preston promised that wasn’t the last we will see of Kaya, adding, “She’s still on the show — it’s just in a different capacity. It’s nice because it adds some conflict and it adds some stuff for Elsbeth to wrestle with. It’s going to deepen my character.”
Elsbeth airs on CBS Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Paramount+. Boots is currently streaming on Netflix.
