Though NCIS: Los Angeles cast member Daniela Ruah is due to give birth this winter, there will be no pause — pregnant or otherwise — in Kensi Blye’s storyline.
For the forseeable future, “You will see Kensi in every episode,” NCIS: LA showrunner Shane Brennan promises, thanks to the miracle of clever editing “and through the miracle of storytelling, too,” he notes.
“If you noticed, she went to a cold climate where she needs to rug up!” Brennan says of Kensi’s top-secret assignment in Afghanistan, which yanked her away from lover boy Deeks and where the only friendly familiar face is Granger’s. Tonight (CBS, 9/8c), we’ll check in on her as she manages to find holiday cheer, receiving “the perfect gift from one of her co-workers.”
As retrofitted into what was otherwise a meticulously planned Season 5, Brennan says, Kensi’s Afghanistan op “has turned into a great arc for the second half of the season — the whole mystery of what she’s doing there, who the ‘White Ghost’ is…. And it’s been fabulous to team her up with Granger” (who will grow so scruffy that Eric in a coming episode will liken him to a “pirate”).
But most importantly, though it devastated those who were thrilled to see Kensi and Deeks finally take a step forward in their nascent romance, Kensi’s abrupt reassignment, at Hetty’s doing, played out organically. Says Brennan, “We didn’t want to just send her off so she disappeared for a number of episodes, so we thought very carefully about how we could do it.” The solution, “from a production point of view, was very challenging,” Brennan says, basically requiring the writers to write eight or so episodes ahead.
Through it all, Brennan effuses, expectant Ruah has been nothing short of “remarkable,” resolved to keep Kensi in the picture as long as she can before her delivery date arrives. Says Brennan: “Now we’re just waiting for the blessed event!”
