This page is dedicated to the couple Whistler and Lucy from the series NCIS: Hawaii. I also dedicate this page to the actresses Tori Anderson and Yasmine Al-Bustami who play these characters brilliantly.
This page is managed by a fan. Enjoy! Gabi.
"Everyone should see themselves
represented on screen."
NCIS: Hawai'i star Tori Anderson has
explained what sets this spinoff apart from the other shows in the franchise.
Anderson has
made history for the franchise as her character Special Agent Kate Whistler's
queer relationship with field agent Lucy Tara (Yasmine Al-Bustami) is at the
very centre of the procedural drama.
In a recent
chat with CinemaBlend,
Tori explained how "exciting" it is to be representing a queer
relationship on one of US TV's biggest dramas.
"I think
it's so important that you see queer characters taking up the same space and
airtime as heterosexual relationships," she said. "And this really is
the one relationship that you see from the first episode until the very end,
and that you'll see through Season 2 as well.
"So
I think it's really exciting and it's essential to represent the world as we
see it. And everyone should see themselves represented on screen and the
success of it speaks to why diversity is so important, and why continuing to
showcase these storylines is so prevalent."
The actress
also spoke about the "monumental" importance of having Vanessa Lachey
anchoring the series as a POC.
"I was so
excited about that, and I was really excited that there was a queer NCIS agent
as one of the leads on the show as well," she said.
"So
I think it was monumental, and I think it's very successful. Vanessa brings
such a different lead to the show, and how she approaches the character of Jane
with kindness, with heart, being a mother and how a woman would approach it
versus a man. And I think she just does a remarkable job."
Coming
off of Kate’s season-ending serenade of Lucy, what will NCIS: Hawai’i‘s Tori
Anderson do for an encore?
In Season 1 of
the NCIS franchise’s newest entry, DIA officer Kate Whistler started off as a
bit of a foil for NCIS Special Agent Jane Tennant’s (Vanessa Lachey) team,
occasionally operating at cross-purposes. But the series premiere let slip that
Kate in private sparked in a very different way with Special Agent Lucy Tara
(played by Yasmine Al-Bustami).
Kate and Lucy
(aka “Kacy”) would navigate ebbs and flows in their nascent relationship,
namely when the former’s girlfriend (say what?) slipped into town. But by the
season’s very end, as Jane hosted a pot luck for the extended team, Kate showed
up to take Ernie’s “grand gesture” advice very literally
and serenade her love, with Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love.” Following an
instant of confusion, and upon hearing Kate plainly profess her love, Lucy
pulled her ex into a long kiss, as the partygoers on the deck whooped and
hollered.
With NCIS:
Hawai’i‘s Season 2 premiere now a month away (on Monday, Sept. 19)
— and ahead of the Sept. 6 DVD release of NCIS: Hawai`i — Season One, via CBS Home Entertainment
and Paramount Home Entertainment — TVLine spoke with Tori Anderson about Kate
Whistler’s evolution-to-date, that season-ending serenade, and what to expect
from the new episodes.
TVLINE | Tori, we must talk about that
season-ending serenade. What was your first reaction when you saw that that was
coming? Oh, my gosh…. Well, I got a call from
[series co-creator] Matt Bosack, because he wrote the episode, and he told me
about it, and I was sort of utterly in shock — but I was really excited. I
mean, I think it was a monumental moment for Kate. She sort of takes things at
face value, which has been a fun thing to play, with very little room for
interpretation. So, when Ernie suggests singing as a grand gesture, she hears
just that. [Laughs] But I mean, it was a nerve-wracking moment. I don’t,
generally, like singing in front of people, so I was able to utilize my
own fear in the moment and combine it with Kate’s fear, so it was really fun.
And at the end of the day, I was really happy that she and Lucy finally
resolved their issues and were able to move past everything.
TVLINE | I was curious, did you have to
reconcile how good of a singer Tori is with how good of a singer Kate is? Or do
they pretty much have the same level of ability? You know, I tried to make it a little bit more
shaky. I mean, my mom called me after, and she said, “Oh, wow, you really made
it sound nervous,” and I don’t know if that was actually me or not. I
couldn’t really tell. But yeah, we did talk about how good of a singer she
would be, and at the end of the day, she wouldn’t be belting out something on
Broadway. I tried to make it a bit more real.
TVLINE | As you said, it kind of speaks to
her overall Season 1 evolution, because at first I’m sure there were
people who thought, “Oh, she’s going to be the stiff foil, the bureaucrat who’s
always enforcing the rules,” and Lucy would be our only “in” to see what kind
of a person Kate really is. But
as the season went on, we saw that, for example, there’s certainly a
professional respect between her and Special Agent Jane Tennant. Yeah, that was a really fun thing to play. The
trajectory of her character really, genuinely surprised me, because when I
auditioned, I had only read the pilot episode. I loved how direct she was. And
I loved that she cared mostly, solely, about her job. She worked in kind of a
male-dominated field and wanted to be the best that she could be, and didn’t
take any gruff from anyone. In the pilot episode, she had a lot of tensions
with Vanessa’s character, so to see that play out — the kind of friendship and
mutual respect that evolved with both of them — really was a gift, in a lot of
ways, that I didn’t expect. That’s a testament to the writers and what they
brought to the show and how they let Kate grow. I really do think her Season 1
arc really was astounding, and a really fun thing to play.
TVLINE | You talked about auditioning….
[Co-showrunner] Jan Nash told me how they read you over Zoom, where everybody
is the size of the head and shoulders in a box, so they weren’t quite prepared
for the in-person height difference between you and Yasmine [Al-Bustami].
I don’t think we were prepared for the height difference,
either! [Laughs]
And eventually, I started wearing flats.
TVLINE | I saw. I saw.
And flats don’t always work greatly with pencil skirts, but my goodness, the
wardrobe department made it work. Yeah, it was interesting, but it was a fun
thing to play, the height difference. There are couples all over the world who
have that kind of height difference, so that part wasn’t surprising. But it
doesn’t necessarily always lend itself to on camera, because
then you have crazy angles and everything. So, yeah, Yaz had to step on a few
boxes, and I had to put some flats on! But we made it work.
TVLINE | Looking ahead to Season 2, can you
tease any interesting dynamics between Kate and other characters coming up? Any
capers you might be getting involved in? Well, I will say that with Kate and Lucy, you
start seeing them more in a domestic light, which is really nice. It’s a happy,
healthy environment — not like the first season, which was rather tumultuous.
And you do see her relationships grow with everyone else on the team, like with
Ernie. There’s stuff with Jesse (played by Noah Mills), which is nice…. I mean,
we’re only shooting Episode 5 now, so there’s still a lot of room for things to
happen in a 22-episode season.
TVLINE | I always enjoy how Ernie (played
by Jason Antoon) obviously has a soft spot for Kate because of, you know…
I know, and I love Jason. My scenes with him are probably some
of my favorites. He just brings so much light and joy to everything he does,
and Ernie really is a supporter of their relationship, a person who’s developed
into this kind of voice of reason for both of them, in the funny world that he
sort of resides in. It’s nice in a procedural to talk about things other than
work, which this has kind of made room for.
TVLINE | Just don’t take him so literally
in the future.
I know! I know. [Laughs] Kate needs to work on that.
TVLINE |NCIS:
Hawaii represents
the first time that an NCIS show has had an LGBTQ
agent from go. Some series have added them a few seasons in, but this is the
first time an NCIS show launched with an LGBTQ agent. What was
important to you in telling that story, and getting right about it?
I really do believe that seeing queer characters and couples taking up the same
space in airtime as heterosexual relationships is vitally important.
It’s essential to represent the real world and the world as it is, so I was
really excited to do that. And also, to show the relationship for exactly what
it is — it’s a relationship. Bringing that diversity adds to exciting,
interesting stories.
I
also think it initiates the breakdown of blinders that have been so prevalent
in the media, so I feel very fortunate and very proud and very sensitive to the
fact that I’m able to kind of step into this role. And seeing the response has
been astounding in a way that I didn’t expect; it speaks to how imperative it
is that this is represented.
TVLINE | You did a great job of playing
every little step in Kate’s journey. Like, is she going to go public with her
truth? Is she not? And then what it all built to in the season finale….
It was a total evolution, though I think there’s still a lot of fear involved
in her life. She leads a very private life, and I think that’s part of her
background. She isn’t as open as Lucy is, so I think she’s learning a lot of
things. Lucy has it a bit easier in her viewpoint than Kate does, but I think
what’s great about Kate is that she is taking things in. She is being a bit of
a sponge, she’s trying to adapt, to the best of her ability. Yes, she falters a
lot of the time, but she’s learning, and I think that’s the best we can do as
humans, is continue to learn and continue to grow.
TVLINE | Has there been any derring-do for
you in Season 2, in the episodes you’ve filmed so far? Any skulking around
corners with a side arm, chasing after baddies…?
Oh, yes, there is some exciting stuff coming Kate’s way, for sure. She kind of
gets into this one scuffle a bit….
TVLINE | And lastly, because the
Hawaii-based shows tend to be close when they’re all out there together: Did
you happen to know anybody on the Magnum cast who you got to be
personally excited for, when their show got saved by NBC?
I don’t know anyone on Magnum, but I do
know people on [Disney+’s] Doogie [Kamealoha,
M.D.], so that was really nice to hear they got renewed. I haven’t
met anyone from Magnum because last year was a bit of a hectic
season, so I never really made anyone’s acquaintance. But that’s great, and
what I’ve heard is that everyone’s really excited to be coming back. It just
shows the power of a solid fan base.
TVLINE |I mean, who wouldn’t want to
work in Hawaii? Except for the paying those gas prices, I guess.
Oh, yeah. You have to pay for gas, for sure, but everything else, it’s
beautiful!
There’s really good
news for Kacy fans heading into NCIS: Hawai’i Season 2: That
happiness from the finale will continue.
The first season
ended with Kate’s (Tori Anderson) grand gesture for Lucy (Yasmine Al-Bustami), which worked to
win her back. You can soon re-watch that moment, along with Season 1 on DVD on
September 6 from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment. It
includes featurettes, deleted and extended scenes (including the exclusive one
above), and a gag reel. When TV Insider spoke with Anderson, the star chatted
about singing, teased what’s ahead for Kacy, and more.
Kate’s grand gesture in the finale
worked!
Tori Anderson: That came as a bit of a shock. I
got a phone call before the script was released from [writer] Matt Bosack, and
he just said, “This is what we’re thinking, do you have any feelings about
this?” He wanted to just open up the conversation around it. I was quite
nervous, but very excited for Kate to finally make a move that was kind of a Say
Anything moment that was laying it all on the line. Because
throughout the season, she kept trying and trying and trying and had no luck. I
think this was her final attempt, and thank goodness it worked. It was really
exciting. I think no one wanted to hear that song because I sang it so many
times on set. But it was a blast and I’m very happy that they’re back together.
Ernie (Jason Antoon) in that scene was so funny:
“I wasn’t being literal.”
I know, it’s
so funny. I know people that take things at face value and take things
literally. I love that Kate does that. When she hears something, it’s almost
like, in a sense, a direct order. Jason is so fun to play off of and he’s been
such a Kacy supporter, in both Lucy and Kate’s corners throughout their
relationship, trying to get them to reconcile. I think it’s fun for him to play
and I love to watch him all the time. He’s hilarious.
How’s
Kate and Lucy’s relationship in Season 2? Are they doing it right this time,
like Kate said she wanted to? Being more honest?
Yes. Kate is
continuing to learn about honesty. In ways, it’s a hindrance because she wants
so badly to do it right that sometimes it occupies more brain space than it
needs to. She has a little bit of anxiety about doing things wrong. You
definitely see them in a more domestic place, in a really happy day-to-day
place and what that looks like. I love my scenes with Yasmine. She’s a
consummate professional. She is hilarious. She is wildly talented. She makes my
job incredibly easy, so doing scenes with her has been such a joy. I’m very
grateful for her. They’re definitely finding a work-life balance and to be on
the same side with no animosity towards each other at work has been a really
nice place to explore. You see them trying to do things together and working as
a team. Everyone’s working as a team and there’s no bad blood between anyone.
Kate moved to the FBI, but we know
that she had an offer in DC. How is she feeling about her job and staying in
Hawai’i? Settled?
She’s thrown
into situations and still finding her footing, but she’s definitely settled and
ultimately she wants to be in Hawai’i because she wants to be close to Lucy.
She doesn’t want to give up her job as NCIS liaison. She wants to be where she
is. Part of that is I don’t think she’s ever experienced a team like this NCIS
team helmed by Jane Tennant [Vanessa Lachey]. She’s surprised that
you can like your coworkers, spend time with them, develop these relationships
with them because I think she’s felt largely alone and isolated and has
struggled with the ability to open up. Finding the peace and the kindness that
Jane exudes has been a really eye-opening experience for Kate.
Kate
and Jane are so different: Kate’s more solo, while Jane’s very much about her
team as a family.
Yeah, and when
I auditioned, the pilot, Kate came in so red-hot and had this directness that
didn’t open up any world for her and Jane to ever get along. She was frustrated
and hated having to put the hammer down and she saw Jane getting in the way of
her being able to do her job. The way that it evolved was really nice. Vanessa
does such a beautiful job of portraying Jane as someone who really doesn’t
judge people. She leads with kindness and leads with an openness that Kate is
not used to and so her guard gets let down a little bit and she’s able to see that.
Seeing their friendship and their mutual respect for one another is really
nice. It’s exciting to see two women in a workplace cheer each other on and to
understand that they may have differing opinions, but they both value each
other’s opinion. Generally, they both want the end result: They want to do the
right thing and they want to do what’s good.
Kate went out in the field a bit last
season, though that didn’t end well.
[Laughs]
What do you mean?
Is that something that Kate wants to
do more?
Yeah, she
understands the bureaucratic sense of the office. That’s her happy place and
where she spent most of her time really finding her niche. She’s really good at
internal office politics. But she constantly wants to learn and she wants to
expand and no one wants to go into the field and get their ass handed to them.
So she is interested in training, in being able to go into the field and be
better prepared next time, because as an FBI agent, you have to be able to hold
your own. I think you will see her learning to do that this season.
We
don’t need ambulances and a sling every time.
Yeah, that
would get old fast. [Laughs]
The premiere is the NCIScrossover. Is Kate involved this time?
She is
involved [in the Hawai’i half]. Torres
[Wilmer Valderrama] and Knight [Katrina Law]
fly over to Hawai’i to help them solve the crime and they do all work together.
So yes, finally involved, woohoo!
What’s that dynamic like?
It’s fun.
There’s a funny scene in there that she’s observing something else going on,
trying to get the work back on track, but it’s nice. I think she’s excited to
be around very intelligent people and it’s a high-stakes situation, so
obviously they’re all trying to get the job done to the best of their ability,
but it’s a nice amalgamation of worlds.
Kate’s place and her view is gorgeous.
She’s still
there. I don’t know how she can afford that place, but that’s the magic of TV.
You will see more of Kate’s place.
We
didn’t get too much of Kate with the team in Season 1 because of the nature of
her job.
We just
started Episode 5, so there’s still a lot of room for everything to grow. I
think I had my first one-on-one scene with Noah [Mills, who plays Jesse]. That
was nice because they didn’t have a scene together last season. There’s some
stuff with Ernie that is always fun. It’s still early days, so I’m sure
there’ll be lots more of it, but there’s less friction with her and the team
this season. It’s a lot more working together.
Do you think because she’s more
settled in her personal life now, she can open herself up to them, which means
less friction?
Absolutely.
She’s more settled in her personal life. She really respects the team that Jane
has built and wants to work with them. At the end of the day, she wants to stay
on as the NCIS liaison for the FBI, so she doesn’t want to lose that
opportunity and she’s very happy in the place she’s in and very inspired by the
team in general and really has a newfound respect for them that she didn’t
really have at the beginning of Season 1, when she just came in to do her job
and was sort of in and out.
What
were your favorite Season 1 scenes to film?
I know I got beat down pretty hard, but I loved that
fight scene. That was really fun.
I loved
all of my scenes with Yasmine. She’s such a joy to work with and as devastating
as those moments were when they eventually led to Lucy deciding to end things
with Kate, it was really big realization moments for both characters. They
didn’t do the best job communicating throughout the season, but they did say
these big things that kind of shatter you as a human. They were such
well-written scenes and it was a very impactful moment for me as an actor to be
able to bring that to light and to be able to really wear your heart on your
sleeve in a way that you don’t always get to do, especially in a procedural.
I also loved
the balcony scene with Vanessa.
That conversation about Kate breaking
Lucy’s heart was so good.
And when she
says, “there’s a lot of risks I’m willing to take and you’re no longer one of
them,” I still remember that line. It’s like seared into my memory. It still
punctures my heart a little bit.
Fortunately,
they’re in a happy place now.
Yes,
absolutely. We won’t live in the past. We can live in the now.
What aspects of Kate are you hoping to
explore more in Season 2?
I’m hoping to
explore more of her relationship with the team and her loosening up and maybe
getting in on some of the jokes versus kind of trying to just skirt by them.
I’m excited for her relationship with Lucy to grow and her relationship with
Jane to grow and just to be more involved and not be brushing up against office
politics as much, and actually both kind of all being on the same side and
working as a team.
The wait for NCIS: Hawai’i to return to
CBS for Season 2 is finally almost over, and the newest show in the franchise
is coming back as part of a crossover event with NCIS. Now is a good time
to revisit the events of the first season and how they set up what comes next,
for better or worse. According to Tori Anderson, who plays Kate Whistler, her
character is in for more “better” than “worse” in her relationship with Lucy.
The actress spoke with CinemaBlend about the importance of queer characters
like Kate and Lucy, as well as other representation.
Season 1 of NCIS: Hawai’i arrived
on DVD on September 6, so there is time before the September 19 Season 2
premiere to revisit the first batch of episodes (as well as the special
features). Tori Anderson shared her thoughts on the show not only featuring a
queer relationship between Kate and Lucy, but making it the biggest
relationship of the series, saying:
"I think it's so exciting. I know
that's what they wanted to do from the conception of the show, but I think it's
so important that you see queer characters taking up the same space and airtime
as heterosexual relationships. And this really is the one relationship that you
see from the first episode until the very end, and that you'll see through
Season 2 as well. So I think it's really exciting and it's essential to
represent the world as we see it. And everyone should see themselves
represented on screen and the success of it speaks to why diversity is so
important, and why continuing to showcase these storylines is so
prevalent."
The course of true love didn’t exactly
run smooth for Kate and Lucy throughout Season 1, but they were clearly set up
as a couple to root for. Kate sealed the deal in the Season 1 finale with a
sweet (and slightly silly) rendition of “Make You Feel My Love” to Lucy that showed her softer, less career-driven side. Her approach was
more literal than Ernie intended when he made some suggestions for reaching out
to Lucy, but it worked! While there was romance elsewhere in Season 1, Kate and
Lucy were set up as the most important. Fans can certainly be happy to see that
the relationship will continue through Season 2 as well.
NCIS:
Hawai’i also
set itself apart when it comes to representation in other ways. When Vanessa
Lachey was cast to play the lead agent, the show made history as the first one in the NCIS franchise
with an actress top-billed as the main character. After Gibbs on the original,
Pride on NCIS:
New Orleans, and Callen on NCIS: Los Angeles,
Jane Tennant at the forefront of the Hawai’i-set action was something new. When
I asked Tori Anderson if she had the sense of making history with Lachey in the
lead while filming Season 1, the actress revealed:
"Oh, absolutely. Not only a
female-led show, but she's a woman of color, so I think it was monumental. It
was really exciting, and that was definitely the appeal when I was auditioning
for it. I was so excited about that, and I was really excited that there was a
queer NCIS agent as one of the leads on the show as well. So I think it was
monumental, and I think it's very successful. Vanessa brings such a different
lead to the show, and how she approaches the character of Jane with kindness,
with heart, being a mother and how a woman would approach it versus a man. And
I think she just does a remarkable job."
Vanessa Lachey herself has also opened
up about what it means to her to bring representation to primetime as a woman
of color, including how it made her daughter look at her like she was Wonder Woman.
There’s certainly no denying that – as Tori Anderson noted – NCIS: Hawai’i is
already very successful after just one season. CBS ordered more episodes of the show after only three had
aired, then gave the order for a full season just days later. The renewal
didn’t exactly come as a surprise!
Season
2 will arrive on CBS(opens in new tab) as the second
half of a crossover event on Monday, September 19. NCIS will
begin the two-parter at 9 p.m. ET, with NCIS: Hawai’i finishing
things off at 10 p.m. ET, and some early images already reveal the stars from the two
shows mixing it up.
In the meantime, you can check out the
full first season available on DVD, with more than 45 minutes of special
features to go with all 22 episodes. The set also includes both halves of the first NCIS crossover that
aired in March, along with a gag reel and some deleted scenes. The DVD set is
available now, and is worth checking out while waiting for the franchise to
return in the 2022 TV premiere schedule.
