Meet the NCIS: Sydney Cast
We have a newNCIS cast! The long-running franchise made its international debut with NCIS: Sydneyin November 2023. Who is in theNCIS: Sydney cast? Meet the stars of the upcoming Australian procedural drama.
NCIS: Sydney follows“the eclectic team of U.S. NCIS Agents and the Australian Federal Police (AFP), who are grafted into a multi-national taskforce to keep naval crimes in check in the most contested patch of ocean on the planet,” according to Deadline. It’s produced by Endemol Shine Australia for CBS Studios and Paramount Australia.
“NCIS: Sydneyis exciting for all of us at Paramount and we hope one of the most eagerly anticipated commissions of the year,” said Rick Maier, Paramount Australia and New Zealand Head of Drama. He continued: “One of the best-loved franchises in the world is in the hands of one of our best production companies.”
Lindsey Martin, CBS Studios’ Head of International Co-Productions and Development, added: “We are thrilled to be expanding theNCISfranchise, one of our most powerful and iconic television IPs, across borders and into Australia.”
NCIS: Sydney marks the first international installment of NCIS. The flagship U.S. version, which starred Mark Harmon and Abby Sciuto, debuted 20 years ago and inspired multiple spin-offs, including NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans and NCIS: Hawaii. Meet the NCIS: Sydney cast below, including Olivia Swann, Todd Lasance, and more.
Olivia Swann (Michelle Mackey)
Olivia Swann, known for portraying Astra Logue and Astra Logue (robot) in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, plays NCIS Special Agent Michelle Mackey in NCIS: Sydney.
Swann shared the exciting news on herInstagram page. “I’m still pinching myself. It’s been a blur of excitement, hard work, the best vibes and constant gratitude. And we’ve only just started,” she wrote in the caption. “Our cast is so incredible, the locations are unreal – long story short, this job is a dream come true. What an honour and a privilege it is to be part of this family and this franchise.”
Todd Lasance (Jim “JD” Dempsey)
Australian actor Todd Lasance, best known for his roles inSpartacus: War on the Demand,The Vampire Diaries,The Flash,Crownies and more, will also star in a lead role in the show. He plays Sergeant Jim “JD” Dempsey on NCIS: Sydneyopposite Olivia Swann.
Lasance also took toInstagramto show his appreciation for the new role and theNCISfranchise as a whole. “Still can’t believe I actually get to post this!!!!! This feels so surreal. Already feels like family!” he said in the post. “The NCIS franchise is one of the biggest in the world, and I am genuinely honoured to be part of the first international reinterpretation of the show and at the same time playing an Australian in my own backyard! It’s rare you get to work with such a phenomenal cast, and we can’t wait to bring you all the crime drama, action and humour, all set on the world’s most beautiful harbour.”
Showrunner Morgan O’Neill told TV Insider in November 2023 about Mackey and JD’s history on NCIS: Sydney. “The office is run by Captain Michelle Mackey, who’s a former Marine Corps chopper pilot. She’s a hothead; she’s a maverick,” she said. “She’s very hard to work with. She’s been moved around NCIS a little bit while they try to find where she can do the least damage. But she’s incredibly good at what she does. She’s very instinctive in terms of the way she runs her investigations, but it means that she’s a really tough task master and she’s a real hard nut to crack. And so it makes it especially interesting to see how the 2IC, who’s an Australian Federal Police force sergeant, Jim Dempsey, gets to manage her because effectively he’s managing her for the rest of the team. In a funny way, it’s this kind of dance between the boss and the real boss. And it’s interesting, JD has to adjust the way he runs a squad to take into account the fact that he’s working for this maverick.”
She continnued, “And they clash a little bit at first, I won’t lie to you; as you’ll see in the first episode, they really do butt heads. As you can imagine, there’s a sense of pride at who has control of the situation, who runs the investigation, whose jurisdiction it is. The nature of NCIS is that there are a lot of crimes that kind of fall in that gray area between jurisdictions, and that’s where a lot of the fun is to be had in the episodes. So they come together like bulls initially, and what’s exciting is to see how they work through those problems.”
While JD and Mackey clash, the showrunner reminds viewers that the team of NCIS: Sydney, like other NCIS franchises, is a family. “As you would know, being a fan of the show, one of the key things about NCIS is that it’s really, at its heart, a family drama, and we have the opportunity, as I said, to create this first blended family within the history of the franchise,” she said. “We really have an opportunity to see these people coming together for the very first time. Because, unlike other iterations of the franchise where the audience drops into a group of people who already know each other, who already function as a team, we see them from day one and everything that entails and all the building of trust and sometimes the fracturing of trust and the testing of those bonds.”
Sean Sagar (DeShawn Jackson)
Sean Sagar portrays NCIS Special Agent DeShawn Jackson on NCIS: Sydney. The British actor’s previous acting credits includeGuy Ritchie’s The Covenant, Blue Story,Our Girl,Sticks and Stones, Buffering, Fate: The Winx Sagaand more.
“It is finally out,NCIS: Sydney,” Sagar similarly posted onInstagram. “I am excited to be joining the cast ofNCIS: SYDNEY! I have been a fan of the show and am now excited to start this journey with a fresh new start to it! Let’s see what trouble we can solve in Sydney.”
Tuuli Narkle (Constable Evie Cooper)
Another cast member is Tuuli Narkle, who plays AFP Liaison Officer, Constable Evie Cooper, on NCIS: Sydney. The Australian actress earned an AACTA Award in 2022 for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama for her performance inMystery Road: Origin. She’s also starred in TV shows likeAll My Friends Are RacistandBad Behavior.
Narkle saidNCIS: Sydneywas her “dream role” in an Instagram post celebrating the cast reveal. “Dream role. Dream team. #NCISSYDNEY coming soon to #ParamountPlusAU and #Channel10AU,” she wrote in the caption.
