One of the most exciting aspects of Nikita Season 3 is the addition of Devon Sawa as a series regular, reprising his guest role of Owen, a character he played for several episodes of the first two seasons. Owen is now a possibly reluctant part of Nikita’s team, all while trying to solve the mysteries of his past.
A new episode of the show, titled “Survival Instincts,” airs tonight (February 1) at 8PM on The CW, and in it, Owen is tasked on a mission that takes him into an art gallery… with some help and instruction from Michael. We spoke with Devon Sawa earlier this week in Hollywood to get the scoop.
“Michael has to coach Owen in this episode through his earpiece,” Devon explains. “Owen enters this art gallery, and Owen would never be in an art gallery. He would never be in a suit; he wouldn’t hold a Martini. Owen deals with things with his fists; throws people off bridges, and that’s what Owen does. That’s where Michael comes in, to coach Owen through that.” Without the instruction of Shane West’s character, things might not go so smoothly. “He starts talking to this art dealer in the art gallery, and things are going from good to bad real quick, until Michael steps in and gets it back on track,” he teases.
Devon feels that there are both good and bad implications for “Mikita” (the Michael/Nikita pairing) whenever Owen and Nikita end up teaming up. “The good thing is that Owen legitimately wants to keep Nikita safe. He’s got a lot of respect for Nikita, and he genuinely cares [for her]. They come from the same world. They’ve got the same kind of background, and what not. Not a good thing, because as a guy, he’s gotta be kind of jealous. His girl’s off with another dude, you know what I mean? So, that could create some conflict, and some tension, but I think Owen has respect for Michael as well. Owen’s not a bad guy,” he assures. He also seems to assure that Owen won’t distract too much from the Michael-Nikita interactions that so many fans seem to enjoy, though he definitely does add to the conflict in tonight’s show. “It’s definitely a strong Michael-Nikita episode, where they’re kind of being split apart and you see them come back together, and split apart again, and come back together… they’re dealing with their stuff and Owen’s just there in the background. He’s like a sidekick in this episode,” he laughs. “He’s creating a lot of tension with what he’s doing. If Nikita and Michael didn’t have enough problems, all of a sudden there’s Owen.”
If there was no Michael as part of the equation, might Owen have a more romantic interest in Nikita? “I don’t know. I think there would be some interest. Sure,” he says, though as of this point, romance isn’t in the cards for Owen with anyone. “There’s so much going on in this season, that we often, on set, aren’t really talking about love or marriages or babies. It’s not really General Hospital. There are those love interests every once in a while, but the second half of the season gets so crazy that we’re not going to be thinking about that so much,” he says. As far as women go, the one Owen seems to have the most interest in right now is to be able to talk to Amanda, to find out how much she knows, especially since earlier this season, she dropped a few important bombs in his direction. “She drops a bomb that Sam is my real name, that I killed all my friends, and that’s all that’s been going on in my mind up until this episode that we’re shooting right now. I haven’t talked with Amanda yet, but yeah. She’s got the keys to all his past,” Devon says. Is there a possibility that the devious Amanda could be lying? “I never considered that,” he admits. “You never know with these writers. They’re kind of genius, and that could happen.”
One character that Owen will be interacting with soon is Ari, played by Peter Outerbridge. “There’s an episode that we’ve already shot that’s coming up four or five episodes from now, that’s with Ari. We’ve got Ari. And behind everybody’s back, Owen is able to confront Ari and kind of interrogate him in the Owen interrogation way, and Ari spills a couple of things, and then gets away. So, he’s got a little more information and a little more reason to get to Amanda,” Devon says. When asked for specifics, all Devon would say is that “Ari takes Owen for a little bit of a ride, and then pays for it.”
While Owen’s loyalties lie “100%” with Nikita, Owen is “not on board with the new Division,” Devon says. “Owen is very uncomfortable. Before this season, Division was the top of Owen’s hit list. That was it. He wanted Division, he wanted Percy, he wanted to destroy it… he goes to this jail, he gets out, and then all of a sudden all of his friends are Division. So, he’s not on board with this. He’s seen what it’s done in the past, and he thinks that it could go that way again in the future, so he’s not on board with it.”
As the season progresses, there is a lot of action coming as the season goes on. “There’s a big bridge sequence with Owen, Sean, and Nikita; that’s kind of cool,” he teases. “There’s all sorts of things. I got to drive this big 18-passenger Army rig thing. There’s always something crazy. There’s a cool episode coming up where Amanda and Nikita are together. Owen doesn’t get to be there, but Amanda and Nikita are going through some stuff together, and that’s going to be wild.” Within all this action, of course, we’ve already had some surprises, such as Michael’s “robo-hand.” Devon seems to be content that it was Michael who got the new appendage. “I’ve already done my hand movie,” Devon laughs. “I think Shane’s got it. He’s made that his own; he’s owned it.”
Why does Devon think people should start tuning in to the show if they haven’t already? “I’m just afraid that Nikita’s going to be one of those shows that people buy a season of five years from now, and say ‘oh man! I wish I would have watched this! This is great!’ Because it really is,” he says. “All of the critics love it, everybody that watches loves it. I’m very thankful it’s picking up steam now… it’s a great show. It’s well written. It’s CW’s ‘other show.’ The CW has a lot of great shows, we’re one of those different shows,” he says. “For all of the people that have stuck by and watched, I’m very thankful for them, and welcome to the new fans. I promise the second half of the season is going to go from a 10 to a 12 in craziness. It’s going to get wild,” he says.
A new Nikita airs tonight on The CW! Here are some pics:
