Photo courtesy TNT

Despite the daunting task of being the newcomer in an otherwise well-established cast, Kearran Giovanni and her character, Amy Sykes, quickly became a vital part of the first season of Major Crimes. In part two of our exclusive interview, she talks about her hopes for Amy next season, the changing dynamics between the characters, and navigating the world of twitter.

by M. Sharpe and C. Bullen
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Read Part One

MCtv: You mentioned that hopefully we’ll get some backstory for all the characters next season, but do you already have more of an idea about Amy’s story? Anything specific you’d like to see from next season about her?

KG: Hmm. Well, I don’t know what’s in James’ head. I do know that he has, in his mind, written all of next season, I think, because he’s a genius. But Amy, I don’t know, I don’t know what he has in store for her. I would like to see her parents. I think it would be really nice to see where she comes from. I kind of feel like she maybe came from a military family, which is why she’s a little straight-laced when it comes to following procedure. I’d love to see where she’s from. I kinda feel like she’s got a little New York in her. So, I’m not sure. Maybe she’ll have a relationship. I know James loves to have one relationship going on in the show, so, I don’t know. I don’t know!

MCtv: It was great to see in the first ten episodes her evolution from being a rookie and an outsider to being accepted into the team- I’d love to see that continued.

KG: Me too, because after episode three, I think, people were like “she’s so annoying, why is she here?” so I was like, can we please make me a little bit likeable so that everyone doesn’t absolutely hate me?

MCtv: We were watching the public reaction pretty carefully, and it was so interesting to watch the whole tide of the show just change for you, and for all the characters after about episode five. It was like a massive shift in opinion.

KG: Yeah, by episode six, not everybody had to fall in love with me, but they had to know why I was there. There had to be a reason why I was on the show, and I think by episode six, when I got the crap beat out of me [laughs], she proved a lot by that, and she also, by coming back strong in eight, proved that she was worth it. There was a reason why she’s here and hopefully we’ll continue on that path, and she’ll get to do a little more leadership in season two.

MCtv: Another thing that changed as the show went along was the relationship between Amy and Provenza. They started off so adversarial, and he didn’t know why she was there and he didn’t understand her, and yet they’ve developed into this odd kind of partnership now. They’ve almost seemed to have become a kind of comic odd couple.

Photo courtesy TNT

KG: [laughs] GW and I are a comic odd couple, that’s so funny. He is exactly what you see on screen. He is a jokester and a prankster, and he’s got a drawer full of candy and a brain full of jokes, so he makes it easy. It never felt like we were trying for those scenes. They were written beautifully and there’s a kind of an old grandpa feeling in him. At the end of the season there’s this kind of proud grandfather-ness about him, and I think he also realized, too, that when push comes to shove, even though I am annoying, I do know what I’m talking about and I’m not just here as a pretty face. Oh, he’s so funny.

MCtv: It’s almost like a lot of the partnerships have shifted- there was always Provenza and Flynn together, and now Flynn seems to have taken more of Sharon’s side, and Provenza’s got all the comedy stuff with Amy instead which is funny and really quite unusual.

KG: I’m really glad they’re doing that with him. Not that he wasn’t always funny, but that’s what makes the show really human. You know, there’s a lot of cop shows out there that are kind of A+B+C, you see the case, you see the trial, you see the murder, whatever, but this show has so much heart and it’s real. Not everyone is sitting in the squad room on pins and needles crying all the time. We have a life, we have a real family life together as a squad, and so I think that relationship, as well as some of the other relationships in the cast, really make it more than just another cop show.

MCtv: The other really interesting relationship we’ve noticed is mentor/student relationship between Amy and Sharon.  It’s quite unusual in some ways, because on TV there are often not that many positive female relationships. Even with Sharon and Brenda, it was quite adversarial for a long time, but the relationship between Amy and Sharon seems to have started out quite positive and has stayed that way.  What feelings do you have on that relationship?

Photo courtesy TNT

KG: It’s nice to have. Mary and I talked about it when we first started. Funnily enough, there’s a scene in the first episode that they ended up changing because they didn’t want to give it away so soon that we were going to become, you know, kinda besties, but we had a really funny kind of woman scene that they ended up changing to be a little more business, because they said “you guys are too friendly on screen. We want to share that throughout the season”.

It’s nice to have a relationship on any TV show where there’s two females who are strong individuals, but together are stronger, and you don’t see that. You usually see the two females bickering. And so really, it’s nice to have life imitate art imitate life, because Mary really is kind of my mentor on the show. She is like Mama Hen and she holds me by the hand and says “come over here” and “let’s go do this” and I’m like “what does that mean?” and she’s like “it means this” or “just smile and nod, I don’t know either.” [laughs]. She’s fantastic, she really is like Mother Earth and so yeah, it’s nice to have that relationship on screen as well.

MCtv: It’s been exciting for us is to see you and the other cast and crew interacting with the fans on twitter. What has that experience been like for you?

KG: Yeah, it’s a different kind of instant reaction, because in theater and Broadway you see it filling out the house, but that’s different from someone texting you their thoughts on your performance. That was a whole new thing that I had to get used to, that people share their opinions very openly and honestly on the internet. [laughs] But Tony definitely does it a lot, and Graham is on there, and so, you know, I like it. I love answering questions about the show and I’m the first person to say hello or whatever. It’s all new to me and I just feel really lucky to even be here and so it’s great, I love it. I call it the Twitter-Twotter, because I didn’t understand Twitter for a long time. I didn’t know what a hashtag was and I was tweeting and twotting and twittering and I don’t know. So now I’ve got much better.

Although I’m kind of boring, unless it’s about the show. No one wants to read my mommy twitters about how much I cleaned up today or who kept me up all night. But when it’s nice, it’s nice to hear that people are so interested in all the backstory of the show and I’m always happy to answer any questions.

MCtv: Well, it’s wonderful, and the fans certainly appreciate you doing that, and thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us.

KG: Awesome, thank you guys so much. It’s been lovely chatting. I’m sorry I talk a lot!

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Kearran Giovanni’s Broadway credits include roles in Hugh Jackman’s Back On Broadway, Fininan’s Rainbow, Catch Me If You Can, Guys and Dolls and Sweet Charity. Prior to Major Crimes she had a long-running role on the soap One Life to Live. In addition to working on season two of Major Crimes, Kearran will be guest-starring on the CW series Beauty and the Beast this February.  You can follow her on twitter @KearranGiovanni.