‘CIA’: Nick Gehlfuss Talks Bill’s Major Loss & Shocking Discovery

FBI Special Agent Bill Goodman (Nick Gehlfuss) had a rough time between seasons.

When CIA returns, it will be revealed that his father died, and the October 5 premiere picks up with him returning to work. Just how he’s doing — as well as a major “bombshell” — will be revealed over the course of the episode. Below, Gehlfuss fills us in.

There’s bad news for Bill when Season 2 begins — he’s coming back after his dad’s death. So how is he doing? How are we going to see that affecting him?

Nick Gehlfuss: I think he’s feeling differently than everyone thinks he’s feeling, and which one is true, the audience will decide for themselves. But he’s certainly coming back after — I mean, in the acting world, we call this the moment before. It’s a phrase that actors use just to help them decide how to enter a scene, or certainly, the first time you come on screen, what has happened? Where are you coming from? The writers have done a fantastic job with this circumstance for Bill.

Mark Schafer/CBS

He’s been away from work. And so this is really a return to work, and I think he’s eager to get back to work and escape some of the stuff he’s been feeling. And his first scene specifically is a very physical scene in which he’s not wanting to talk and just escape, physically. It’s a boxing scene. And I loved the fact that it showed Bill in a boxing scene because that’s certainly a skill set he would have as an FBI agent. And I had never boxed on screen, let alone ever. So I did some training for that, and that was a really fun moment.

Is he going to let Colin (Tom Ellis) be there for him as he’s grieving his father? 

Not initially. Bill’s from Ohio, and I imagine this funeral took place in Ohio. Colin’s in New York. He didn’t know my father that well. We’re playing that Bill was kind of in his own world for a little bit and removed. And returning, we’re back in it, and he wants to get back to work, not really wanting to talk about. He doesn’t want to talk about it too much, if at all. And so it’ll reveal itself over the course of the first episode what’s really bubbling underneath and how it’s affecting the task at hand.

Meanwhile, Colin’s going to be dealing with Toni (Angela Sarafyan) being around. And in the finale, Bill had talked about how she’s a more valuable asset in the field than locked up. What is Bill seeing in Colin as Colin’s going to have to face that?

Look, if Bill’s covering up ever, he can tell when someone else is covering up. Certainly, what’s great about this relationship between Colin and Bill as it continues to evolve is that they’re not going to be able to hide anything from one another. They’re both really good at their jobs [and] possess these skills of being able to detect lies. And so they think they can lie to one another, which I think is wonderful for them both to think. But they will lean on one another, whether that’s their gut instinct or not, and they will come clean with one another, whether that’s the initial move.

There’s going to be quite a bombshell that’s dropped on Bill at the end of the first episode that is shocking and almost unbelievable for Bill that sends him on maybe his own personal investigation outside of some of the CIA stuff that might mix into some of the CIA stuff over time. But it’s certainly a 10-episode arc that gets us to our mid-season finale. And I, as an actor, do not like to know all the specifics of what’s to come. I only want to know what my character would know so I’m not thinking about things I shouldn’t. That’s just a personal preference of mine as an actor. But I’m told that it goes into a rabbit hole of darkness, and he’s going to rely on his partner in a way that we have not [seen]. And I think that’s really good for Bill now that he’s committed to this task force; he actually passed up on a promotion last season. So he is really committed here. Yeah, he’s learning a lot about himself and wondering who the hell he is after this information at the end of Episode 1 comes out, and what he’s capable of.

Related

'CIA': Tom Ellis Says Colin & Bill Are Both Spiraling in Season 2

Tom told me, “Colin has gotten used to, in Season 1, being able to lean on a dependable, centered Bill, and what we slowly realize in Season 2 is that Bill is now spinning out of control under all of it, and Colin doesn’t have the crutch that he thought he had. And then Colin starts to spin out, too.” So, what does that mean for their partnership? Because by the end of Season 1, they really trusted each other. And now if they’re both spinning out, it’s going to affect them, it’s going to affect those around them.

Of course. That’s fascinating to hear that because, like I said, I don’t know everything that’s to come. So, that’s a little bit of new information for me. And I don’t mind, and it’s not too specific, so it’s good. We’re a yin and yang. And when both the yin and yang are spiraling, where is that balance? There is no balance. And I imagine that’s chaos. And how do you find… That’s just exciting for me to hear, and I’m looking forward to seeing how a partnership operates when that’s happening. I think that’s going to be really juicy circumstances.

Yeah, because watching that bond build over the first season, these are two people who trust each other. But also, like you said, they hide things; that’s what they do. And they know when they’re hiding things, and they’re not going to just change all of a sudden and be like, “Time to open up and talk about our feelings.”

I mean, they’re guys at the end of the day, and we know we’re not the best at that sometimes. And certainly guys that need to keep a facade for their work and hide stuff, even from people as they’re investigating, so they’re not an open book in general. So, it’s part of their skill set to have a wall up to a lot of degree. And Bill’s gone through two tours of Afghanistan, probably holds onto a lot that we haven’t even experienced yet. Maybe that’ll come in this; I don’t know what’ll be triggering for him. But yeah, I think there’ll always be a core of there’s a reason Bill committed to this task force. The partnership was at the center of that. And I think on top of that, he’s realizing he’s good at this new line of work because of his skillset of the FBI, of course. But yeah, it might scare him a little bit into, why is he so good at this?

You brought up this shocking discovery that’s coming up at the end of the premiere, and you also did mention his two tours that he’s been on because last season, Colin’s past came back. So might we see Bill’s past being the one that’s coming back this season? It sounds like that’s possible. Is that tied to that shocking discovery?

I think Bill learns something about his past, exactly, that will make him question quite a bit — and not just about himself, but about those from his past.

Mark Schafer/CBS

Intriguing. Bill was still engaged at the end of last season, but he also wasn’t being honest with his fiancée. We also met someone else from his past, Lauren (Molly Griggs). That relationship could come back. And after losing his father, that kind of loss can also cause him to make some decisions that could affect a relationship. So what is going on with his love life this season?

Well, I think it’s haunting him how much longer he can keep all of this a secret, or if he should keep it a secret. That’s really at the center of it because let’s be honest, when you’re entering marriage, you are creating vows that talk about honesty with one another and how much you’ll be there through everything and anything. And so I love that that’s happening in Bill’s personal life as he’s deciding what he should or shouldn’t tell his fiancée about this. Now, on one hand, they’re not married, so there’s not that obligation. But in entering this type of union, it behooves him. But he’s learning about why people in the CIA don’t tell their spouses at the same time. So, he’s getting all of this information, and he’s got a decision to make. He will make one. You’ll see him make a decision one way or the other on that.

Also, you can’t just have in your vows, “Oh, by the way, here’s this other side of me that I did not tell you about.”

Right. And what I was going to say — thank you for reminding me, I had lost my train of thought for a second — Katie [Carolina Pluta] has signed up to be with an FBI agent. She knows what he does for work, but he can’t tell her everything. So, she’s already accustomed to that and has accepted and given over to this type of relationship that is not… But he hasn’t told her anything about that he’s been working with the CIA.

And he hid the bruises when he was injured.

Yes. And I’m sure her radar and spidey senses have been up a few times or at least wondering, “Oh, this seems a little off.” The hours are definitely longer. It is potentially, at times, more dangerous. And so it’s going to come to a head, and Bill has to figure out what he should do. He has to decide.

CIA, Season 2 Premiere, Monday, October 5, 9/8c, CBS