NCIS: Los Angeles Star Eric Christian Olsen Shares Thoughts on Kensi and Deek’s Future
Last week’s episode of NCIS: Los Angeles, co-written by Eric Christian Olsen, who plays LAPD Liaison Marty Deeks, brought up a lot of questions about what the future will hold for our characters.
One huge change that seemed to be indicated was that Special Agent Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah) seems to have changed her mind about having children. At least that is what she said in that terrifying moment when she was rescuing Deeks from a bomb.
Kensi’s statement takes their relationship to a new frontier for the newlyweds.
“There’s a great line that says, ‘You want to know how to make God laugh? You tell him your plans,’” Olsen tells Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “You tell him your plans, which is, ‘Oh, all right, we’re going to do this next thing,’ and of course, nothing goes to plan.”
But what they will have is a honest conversation about parenthood, which is hard for them because neither one of them has a strong blueprint of what parenthood should look like.
“They don’t even have a strong blueprint of what love looks like,” Olsen continues. “So what I love the most about those two characters is they really are deeply flawed people just stumbling forward, trying to do the best they can for the people that they love, and this is a great example of that, which is a very honest conversation about what this next step would look like.”
It hasn’t been a secret that if it were up to Deeks, they would have left NCIS and found safer jobs, which would make him feel more secure about the idea of becoming a parent. He doesn’t want to leave any kids they might have orphans.
But because of his love for Kensi, he has stayed and he has been the one doing the most compromising in the relationship.
“I think that Deeks loves her enough to know that he can’t change her, and what she does is so deeply embedded in who she is,” Olsen says. “I think that there’s an interesting recognition from Deeks that says, ‘If I take that from her or I ask that chapter to end, I think she loses a big piece of herself.’ So, she’s got to have ownership of that decision.”
In being willing to compromise, Deeks has not only won and kept Kensi’s love, but it has also gotten him love from fans – and Olsen agrees, saying, “I think that humanness allows the audience to emotionally connect with him, because he is somebody who is incredibly honest about being human. I don’t see a lot of toxic masculinity from that character. I think he is saying it how it is, and that comes from places of… sometimes it’s insecurity, sometimes it’s fear, but I think he works through it in search of love.”
Also on Sunday’s episode, while the team investigates the theft of a computer virus, Callen (Chris O’Donnell) and Sam (LL Cool J) consider their future at the agency, and if one of them – especially Callen – might be the next Hetty (Linda Hunt).
“For Sam and Callen, that exploration for them is who has the skillset and the psychological, emotional, and practical standpoint to do what Hetty’s doing?” Olsen says.
One thing we know for sure, unless she undergoes a big change, Nell (Renée Felice Smith) will not take over for Hetty, even though she has been groomed to do so, especially while she still blames Hetty for Eric’s (Barrett Foa) kidnapping.
