TCA Press Tour: ‘Nikita’ is more than just a pretty girl in high heels
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She’s young. She’s hot. And she can kill you.
Sydney Bristow, watch out.
In CW’s reboot of “La Femme Nikita” (which is a remake of the original French film), Maggie Q stars in the title role of the rogue assassin in the show set to premiere Sept. 9.
The Hawaiian-born actress is no stranger to the genre, having starred in her fair share of action flicks, including 2006’s “Mission: Impossible III,” and the upcoming vampire flick “Priest.”
She acknowledges that making the move to television wasn’t a walk in the park.
“I’ve done action movies, [but] never done an action TV show,” she said. “Your level never goes down. It’s such a challenge -- all of this action stuff. I’m half Asian and people think you must know kung fu. Yes, we wake up and do kung fu, then we brush our teeth.”
But why remake Nikita? Although “La Femme Nikita” was the No. 1 drama on USA Network during its run, it famously required a fan campaign to save it.
Executive producer Craig Silverstein asked himself the same question.
“That was my first challenge. It’s been done,” Silverstein said. “I took it upon myself to see if it could be done fresh.”
Silverstein said bringing the show to The CW was fairly simple because the network was looking to develop a female action show and Warner Bros. had the rights to the title.
In rebooting the show he wanted to keep the dark fairy tale of her origin story, yet make it contemporary, and he points out the show isn’t a rehash and has more of a Jason Bourne kind of tone.
McG, who also serves as an executive producer, said he thinks the series will show a hero that is often overlooked on television.
“I like the idea of empowered female characters. Maggie nails that voicing,” he said. “The show’s a very big departure for what you’d think CW would normally do. It’s a lot of pressure, but Craig went for it.”
-- Gerrick D. Kennedy
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