Rules don’t apply to renegade agent Nikita Mears (Maggie Q) – she is hell-bent on taking down Division and its dangerous leader, Percival “Percy” Rose. This time it is even more personal as the secret US agency has “turned” her spy – a very skilled Alexandra “Alex” Udinova – and now have her doing their bidding. It is going to be one explosive battlefield where deception is around every corner. Nikita’s Maggie Q and Shane West (Michael) shed light on the cat-and-mouse games coming up, writes Debashine Thangevelo.
THE sizzling chemistry between Nikita Mears (Maggie Q) and Michael (Shane West) bordered on explosive until they gave into it in the last season.
As Michael was tasked with finding and capturing his former top agent, Division viewed his indiscretion as a liability for the agency and it cost him his standing in the agency.
Meanwhile, his boss, Percival “Percy” Rose (Xander Berkeley), in his usual take no prisoners ap- proach, found the perfect replacement in Alexandra “Alex” Udinova (Lyndsy Fonseca). A former plant by Nikita, Alex switched sides after learning of Nikita’s hand in her family’s execution.
The cliffhanger ending of last season saw Nikita get her hands on the black box, which contains information on Division that could bring the agency to its knees.
What can fans of the remake anticipate?
Q says: “I think we are going to open with the lone Nikita and I don’t think you are going to know what’s happening. And she is going to enter a world you wouldn’t expect – you may be misdirected a little at the beginning. This is going to be the season to unveil who she really is and how she got where she is and why she is the way she is.”
Flashbacks were a key component in season one, will that seep into the follow-on series?
“Yes, definitely. That was decided on when Nikita was being birthed at Warner Bros offices. We want to tell this story somewhat in flashbacks because there are so many characters and we want to interweave them. Also, we want to divulge things slowly,” she shares.
Comparing the Nikita in season one to season two, Q says, physically, she has transformed.
“It is fun to unlearn sometimes. It is fun to sometimes just let go. But it’s hard to do, actually, because you have to play on innocence that you may or may not have personally.”
On a more in-depth front, Q reveals: “My thing with her has always been that you can take any girl off the street who fits the profile for what Division wants, you can train her and do all the things that make her who she is.
“But I have always wondered, from the beginning, why Nikita is the best. And it is the thing that defines her. It’s that cross that she has to bear.”
Now that her best pupil has turned on her, have Nikita’s feelings towards Alex transformed into unsalvageable lassitude and dislike?
She laughs: “I think Nikita has great love for this girl. She really, really does. There is something so deep about how she cares about her and I think one of the things I see for the character – my character, anyway – is that when she sees a young girl in a situation where she is so miserable at work, she sees someone who needs to be saved. I think Nikita wants to make things right with her.”
As for Owen Elliott (Devon Sawa), who shares a similar heartbreaking past as Nikita and is filled with the same rage for Division as her, returning, Q hints: “Owen is going to now weave himself into the fabric of what is Nikita and Michael’s world. So that is going to be shocking.”
Meanwhile, West sheds more light on Michael’s ousted status: “We are going to see a lot more than you saw last year. I think with them being on the run and Division having turned, and with things having changed across the board… we also have a new stunt co-ordinator who, at least for me – I don’t know if this is the case for the other actors – but I do know that they are glossing up Michael’s fight scenes a bit more.
“Last year, he was more of a bruiser, this year he is more deadly. Nikita obviously has all the amazing moves.”
With Nikita headstrong when it comes to finishing her goal, this could have a negative domino effect on their relationship.
West nods: “You can expect a lot of problems from them suddenly being together. They are on the run, they are finally together, which is something they wanted, but there is so much work to do. It is going to be entertaining with comedy as well. And ups and downs in the relationship.”
As for what he is looking forward to, he shares: “Everybody’s coming back – the Owens, the Ryan Fletchers, people like that – and rather quickly I think. It is just exciting doing a second year.”
In the first episode of Nikita 2, Michael and her help investigator Tony Merrick and rescue his son – now targeted by Division – to extract information on the clandestine Operation Game Change.
Another thrilling season is on the cards with the action on full throttle once again.
With trust rather overrated and allies a dying breed in the spy world, Nikita and Michael have their job cut out for them.
• Nikita is on M-Net Series (DStv channel 114) tonight at 9.30pm.