NCIS LOS ANGELES star Chris O’Donnell has revealed his daughter helped inspire his new project with his long-running collaborator, LL Cool J.
Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J star as Special Agents G Callen and Sam Hanna, respectively, in the ever-popular NCIS spin-off, NCIS: Los Angeles. CBS’s popular action-drama has recently been confirmed for a 14th season but, before it gets underway, the two lead agents will take on a totally different challenge behind-the-scenes of a new competition show, Come Dance With Me.
Callen star Chris revealed his daughter’s love of TikTok dances was a key inspiration for Come Dance With Me.
Chris and his NCIS co-star Sam serve as creators and executive producers on the new project, which will begin this month on CBS.
His new series will put young, talented dancers to the test for a chance of winning $100,000.
However, there’s a twist: each dancer will have to invite one of their inspirational, yet untrained, family members to dance along with them
The NCIS regular explained: “Watching my daughter teach my sons how to do these TikTok dances, things just kind of lined up to where the moment was right for something like this.”
The former Batman and Robin star has five children with his wife Caroline Fentress, whom he married in 1997.
He confirmed his daughter’s love of learning dancing routines helped spur him to create a new, family-friendly competition series.
Chris said to Variety: “And when you bring in the emotional element of these kids, who are all trained dancers, bringing in someone in their life with a meaningful relationship, who may not be experienced, it’s not just about the dancing.”
It’s more about the personal journey that these people have been on.”
Competition shows in the States are just as popular as ever, with hits like Dancing With the Stars and The Masked Singer still going strong.
With the chance to showcase some rising stars of the dancing world and learn more about their personal journeys, Come Dance With Me could become another major hit for CBS.
Thankfully, Chris won’t be launching the new series alone, as his long-time co-star LL Cool J will be working alongside him
Having performed opposite each other for over 13 years on the NCIS spin-off, it was a natural decision for them to work on the project together.
“Every day, even though there are directors and people around, he and I always have a separate conversation between the two of us that only the two of us are privy to,” Chris explained.
“Whether it be about the actual scene we’re working on or stuff that’s coming down the pike or our careers in general and personal life.
“I feel like we’ve been in production on our lives for the past 13 years. And this is just another big conversation topic that we’re going through.
