On Nikita, he plays Navy SEAL Sean Pierce, but in real life, he’s just an actor excited about an awesome new job. And who wouldn’t be? Dillon Casey spends his days in intense and action-packed scenes with co-stars Maggie Q, Lyndsy Fonseca and Melinda Clarke.
Fresh from a run-through with Nikita’s stunt choreographer before his next scene, Casey sat down with TVGuide.ca on the Toronto set and told us he doesn’t think anyone is safe on the show.
After hearing that executive producer Craig Silverstein told TV Line that he wants to start killing off characters as the cast grows, Casey wasn’t surprised.
“I’ve been afraid that Sean would be killed off since Day 1! So nothing’s changed. If anything, that just confirmed my fears … But on a show like this, anybody can be killed at any time.”
When asked what was coming up in the next few episodes, Casey hinted that “[‘Clean Sweep, which aired last week’] was a house-clearing episode,” which means some of the key players may be in danger down the line.
It’s just another reason Casey is enjoying every minute of Nikita – especially since he didn’t think he was going to get the role in the first place. He had already planned a trip to Mount Kilimanjaro with his father when his agent called about auditioning for the role of Sean.
“I tried to convince myself I didn’t really want the part because of the trip, so I went into the audition really relaxed … [But] as soon as I walked out of there, I knew … I wasn’t going on that trip. It was a good problem to have!”
Since Casey was raised in the Greater Toronto Area, working on Nikita meant a move home from Los Angeles, where he’d been looking for work on his own: “It’s kind of ironic that the minute I get a job, I’m moving back in with my dad. This is home, this is where I grew up – Canada’s great.”
Casey was also educated in Canada, earning his undergraduate degree at McGill and completing a master’s degree in economics at University of Toronto. How does an economics student make the jump to acting, one might ask?
“I was always acting when I was growing up … After doing the master’s, that kind of made realize that I didn’t like economics … I realized I didn’t like anything except acting, so I [went] for that.”
And good thing he did. Casey loves the cool things he gets to do on a daily basis. “[Sean is] a total badass,” he explains. “I [am] shooting sniper rifles and beating up people who would normally be able to kill me!” His favourite scene so far involved shooting at a helicopter as it took off from a roof, after Sean and Nikita (Maggie Q) had their first face-to-face.
Casey added that even though Nikita and Sean may be starting to play for the same side, he wishes they wouldn’t: “I like being her nemesis. We’re like the road runner and the coyote … she’s always one step ahead of me, and I like that relationship.”
Speaking of relationships, Sean might be an upcoming love interest for Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca). “There’s a chemistry there and I think he has feelings for her, but I don’t really know how far they’re going to take it.”
Aside from Casey’s feature film, The Vow, hits theatres Friday. The movie also stars Channing Tatum, Sam Neill, Jessica Lange and fellow Torontonian Rachel McAdams. In it, Casey plays Ryan, who is marrying the sister of McAdams’s character.
Nikita airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
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