‘NCIS: New York’s Jennifer Beals Describes Robyn as the Boss & Talks Casting Her Dog

One thing that’s clear over the first four episodes of NCIS: New York is that Robyn Wells (Jennifer Beals) knows how to be the boss in the way that her team needs her to be. She also has the cutest officemate in her dog.

“I love her. I think she’s so fascinating, and I think the juxtaposition of being so tough and having this beautiful dog in the office, it’s like having her heart outside of her body sometimes,” Beals tells TV Insider. Below, she shares more about her character.

I have to say how much I love that video of you and Dunkin on the set. It’s so adorable.

Jennifer Beals: Oh my God, he is the cutest. I mean, first of all, let me just back up. I am having such a blast on this show, and every day I go to work is such a pleasure. And the other day, because of work commitments and things, I only had four hours of sleep, and I went to set and I was so happy, and the AD said, “How are you still so awake?” And I said, “Because I’m surrounded by such wonderful people, and we’re all dedicated to making this thing the best thing that we possibly can. And there are no bad apples.” And so my energy is augmented. It’s not drained at all. And so I just sailed through the day like I had had eight hours of sleep.

 

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And Dunkin, my goodness, anytime Dunkin comes to the set is my happy day. In my dressing room, I have a whole bunch of things that I’ve bought for him. I give him a little present every time he comes and it’s our little ritual. I give him something when he arrives and his owner, Haley said, “There are two places he gets really excited to go to. One is the beach and one is the studio.” I just love that. That makes me really happy. I want it to be a really happy place for him.

That’s sweet. What do you think it says about Robyn as a boss that she has her dog in the office? Because I love it and I think it kind of helps set the vibe that she’s going for.

Yeah, for sure. It’s like a big heart space in the midst of all this really potentially difficult subjects and difficult things that we all have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. There is this beautiful dog and it’s like love in the room. Love is always in the room. And when Byron [Balasco] told me that Robyn has a dog that she keeps in the office, I was sold. That was really one of the major selling points. [Laughs] I was like, “I get a dog in my office?” And he said, “Yeah.” And then they let me cast the dog. They sent me a bunch of videos of different dogs who were all amazing and so cute and beautiful. And so it was this sort of Sophie’s choice situation. But Dunkin had such personality, and I love that he was a little bit older than the other dogs because it spoke to the relationship that she’s had him for a while, that this is her buddy, and it’s also nice that the rest of the team can interact with him, too.

What stands out to me is that Robyn seems to know exactly what each of her agents needs from her and she can adapt to doing just that. So how would you describe her relationships with an approach to each of the characters?

Well, a lot of it is evolving. I was talking to Jackie [Byers] about that.

With Sean [Devin Druid], it’s like a mentor-mentee situation in some ways, but it’s also at times parental. It’s also sometimes conspiratorial. Nick [Scott Caan] is her oldest relationship in that group. I think she’s known Nick for the longest, so they definitely have a shorthand. I think Sam [LL COOL J], she’s getting to know and respects him so much and is staying grounded for him. Wyatt [Shane Harper], she’s still getting to know in some ways, but it’s all like a family. What I love is those scenes where we’re all around the table in the kitchen, and it just feels like a family, it’s this found family.

The tricky part is, as a leader, is giving them the space to have fun and enjoy each other’s company, but it’s like being a parent in some ways. You have fun with them, but there’s going to be some days when you need to be the parent, and they may not like that, but that’s just how it is for the good of the group. But I think she has a really healthy relationship so far with everybody.

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On other procedurals, we do sometimes see the boss also doing field work, but so far we haven’t with Robyn. Is that how she prefers it?

So far, because I have just too much work to do. You see all those agents in the background, I also interact with them, and it’s not as if there’s just one case going on in my mind. We don’t have just one case happening. There’s, I think, sometimes several cases happening simultaneously that you don’t see. And so for me to go in the field, then I get behind on other cases.

Ahead of the season, Byron told me that Robyn is very much a woman on the ascent, that the powers that be see her as someone who could go far, like attorney general, a senator, but that she loves her job. So what does she see in her future? Is it just continuing to do what she’s doing now?

Well, I think she’s very much in the present kind of person. I think she was, at the SDNY, surrounded by people who were strategists, who were ambitious and climbing, climbing, climbing, and I think that was not the only reason she left, but one of the reasons. And I think the ability to do good and to be around people who are very much in the present and want to solve issues is really attractive. I think she really loves her team, too. It’s just very real there. It’s very tangible, and I don’t think she wants to be manipulated by anybody.

She also doesn’t seem like the kind of person who can be manipulated, so I wish anyone luck trying to do that.

[Laughs] Yeah, actually I came across this quote that was so great. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Stoics, but I was reading Epictetus the other day and I came across this quote. It says, “You know yourself, what you are worth in your own eyes, and what price you will sell yourself, for men sell themselves at various prices. This is why, when Florus was deliberating why he should appear at Nero’s shows,” Nero being horrible, “taking part in the performance himself,” Agrippinus replied, ‘But why do you not appear?’ He answered, ‘Because I do not even consider the question.’ For the man who is stooped to consider such questions and to reckon up the value of external things is not far from forgetting what manner of man he is.” And I think it’s very applicable to Robyn. It’s not even considering the question because that’s not who she is.

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What can you say about any Robyn-centric episodes coming up?

Somebody arrives out of my past, I will say that, and that is problematic.

How does she handle that?

Well, you’ll just have to see.

Are we seeing a different side of her handling it, something that we haven’t seen from her yet?

Yeah.

Do we get to see her leading on anyone? Because that’s the other thing — all the people we’ve seen in her life so far, she’s the boss of them, so can she lean on any of them?

Well, that’s the question.

NCIS: New York, Tuesdays, 9/8c, CBS