'NCIS: Sydney' Star Todd Lasance on the Shocking Season 1 Cliffhanger

It’s a cliffhanger of an ending on the season 1 finale of NCIS: Sydney when AFP Sergeant Jim “JD” Dempsey's (Todd Lasance) son is kidnapped by an international assassin in exchange for a wanted criminal in NCIS custody and he has some important decisions to make, including how much he’s willing to sacrifice in his life, especially his career, to rescue his child.

“One of my favorite things about the episode is that it’s about crossing the line between his duty -- he’s made an oath as far as the Australian Federal Police, but also as a father, a protector, a provider,” Lasance tells Parade in this interview. “I’m a father myself and I have a daughter, and then during the show, my son was born, so I was on planes back and forth making it home for the birth. So, having the subject matter of dealing with how far would you go for your son? What would you be willing to put at stake to save the ones you love? I loved that dynamic that the writers gave me because JD is torn between those decisions.”

At times in the episode, JD is very much the cop but then it flips and at the end of the day, he is very much a father, who just wants to bring his son home and he’ll do anything in his power to make that happen. But he can’t do it singlehanded, so he has to trust Mackey (Olivia Swann) more than he ever has before because she’s holding a really important aspect of his life in her hands. It demonstrates how far the two have come since they reluctantly became partners in the premiere episode.

“There’s a couple of beautiful moments with Liv when she really burns into JD,” Lasance says. “She’s like, ‘I’ve got you. I’ve got your back and whatever decision you make,’ because she knows that there’s some decisions here that could cross the line and either way, she’s like, ‘I’ve got you,’ which is cool to see.”

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But the overall feeling that we get from JD in the episode is one of guilt. At one point early on, his ex tells him, “You may be an ex-husband, but you’re not an ex-father,” and it really hits home that he’s been putting his job first and with the kidnapping, he’s motivated by guilt for not being at his son’s birthday party and preventing it.

“I think every parent carries some kind of parental guilt,” Lasance says. “It’s like the curse of parenting no matter how present you are all the time. But I do love that JD carries those elements of guilt, particularly with his son, but also with his ex-wife and being present, and how demanding the job is and what’s required of them, the sacrifices that they make to be part of that job.

“He’s also in a weird sense wanting to step up and make amends for that too, to protect his family and his wife and his son. So, it’s beautiful, it’s his own arc and it’s a huge arc that he discovers as he’s going through the journey. And also, sometimes when people are confronted with that level of trauma or that situation, it makes them take stock of what they had been missing and what they’ve potentially been doing wrong and they get a chance to fix that and rectify it. Yeah, it’s the actor’s dream, getting to play those elements.”

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The finale ends on a cliffhanger with a phone call that is totally shocking to both the team and the viewers at home, and what’s equally distressing is there’s no word yet on whether or not NCIS: Sydney will be picked up for a second season, so the second cliffhanger is: Will we get resolution to the devastating final phone call?

“Obviously, the dream for us would be to go back and do more seasons of the show because we just loved every second of it,” Lasance continues. “But that cliffhanger, I remember reading the cliffhanger and I basically threw my script. I was like, ‘There’s no way this is happening.’ This is such a great, not only cliffhanger episode, but for it to finish on Mackey’s line where she’s like, ‘Are you going to get that?’ It was just perfect writing. I’m so excited for everyone to see this episode.”

During the Zoom chat, Lasance also shared his thoughts on how the team is coming together in the finale, learning more about JD’s backstory, the cast’s chemistry, what it’s like filming in Sydney, and who he thinks JD most resembles in the NCISverse.

This is also an episode in which you can see that the team has really started to jell. It’s not Aussies versus Americans, so everybody comes together to attempt this rescue.

What I love about this show is they didn’t just have a little bit of friction in episode one and then it’s all gone. I love that they keep that friction. They keep that really good balance between Mackey and JD, where he keeps her on her toes, he keeps ribbing her, there’s all the Australian versus Americanisms culturally that they keep introducing. The comedy’s there, but when it’s game time, when it’s going down, they’re there as a team, they’re there as a unit and they’ve got each other for life. I love that they’re building that, and you can get a sense of that. Because we felt it as we were filming the series, so that’s now translating on screen and they’re building it in the writing. Again, you’ve got to give all the credit to the writers because they build the show for you, and we get to slot into that and shoot it.

Since this is the first season of the show, isn’t this episode good for you as an actor finding out a little bit more about who JD is, his backstory?

Oh, absolutely. Actually, here’s an interesting little note. In the audition, I had two scenes from the first episode and then one of them from this final episode. So, interestingly enough, I did the first audition and that was more the lighthearted and cheeky stuff, and I got to play around with the comedy and all that sort of stuff. But as I got closer to getting the role, they introduced a scene from the final episode without any context. We didn’t know where it was going to go but I remember reading the scene and I spoke to Morgan O’Neill, the showrunner, the creator and writer, as my wife was about to give birth, “Mate, we’re about to have a son and this deals with that trauma and the loss and the connection and everything.”

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It was like I knew exactly what to do with those scenes. I was so intrinsically connected to it through my daughter and my son and my family. When I got given those audition scenes and that storyline, I felt like it was meant to be. It felt like it was a universal alignment of me getting the role and wanting to play this character and meant to play this character. So yeah, I keep saying it’s the actor’s dream to get to translate that heavy emotional storyline for the screen. I just hope that I’ve done it justice and that people feel like I’ve landed it, because I put everything into this final episode, so hopefully, it translates.

Speaking of auditioning, Olivia told me that your chemistry read was on Zoom. So, when you were actually in person, was that same chemistry there? And what’s it like being partners?

Oh, absolutely. I could not fault a single person on this cast. It has been the most incredible family dynamic you could possibly ever dream of. The best way I can explain it is like I gained brothers and sisters in my life, like soul brothers and sisters in my life, that chemistry. The first time I met Olivia was obviously over Zoom, and as you can imagine, translating that kind of chemistry and that connection between the partners of the show is difficult because there’s just something chemical that happens in person. But straight away when we started chatting and working together, I was like, “Oh, yeah, this is it.”

The dynamic was already there, but then once we all flew in, Sean (Sagar) had flown in from the U.K. as well, Tuuli (Narkle) and Mav (Hazel) were Australian, too, and then Will (McInnes), obviously Australian, so we all move away from home and become this little family unit. That trust was just instantaneous, everyone wanted to be there, everyone was so excited to be there, to be a part of it, wanting to make something magic, you know? And we just got along like a house on fire. Within a week it was like this was always meant to be. I felt like I’ve known these people for my whole life. So yeah, it’s again the dream. It’s cliché but it’s the dream situation for me, I’m so happy.

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What’s it like having Sydney as a character in the show?

A dream. Again, I feel like I’m sick of saying it myself because it’s the Australian actor’s dream to be working on a U.S.-scale series shooting in your home country. And as I said, the first mind blowing was when we were working on the Australian Navy base, and we stepped onto this massive aircraft carrier. We walked out onto the top deck and we’ve got Seahawk helicopters there and in the distance is the Sydney Opera House -- we’re on the Sydney Opera Harbour --and the harbor bridge was in the distance.

It felt surreal because this is a military base, obviously. We’re never allowed access on the military base as a civilian. And the Australian Navy gave us full access to all of their bases, all through Sydney, so it was just one after another where we’d rock up to these Australian bases and I’m like, “Where are we? This is like a postcard. This is like the Tourism Australia ad right here and it’s all for NCIS.”

And then there’d be little quaint beaches and parklands and rivers and parts of the city where I was like, “I lived in Sydney for a number of years and even I am discovering things that are breathtaking.” You really appreciate it when you can shoot a show of this scale, and they’re able to showcase the harbor and the beauty of the city and the water. I’m so proud of it. I feel like it’s going to boost tourism. People are going to watch it and go, “Wait, let’s go to that city.” Yeah, it’s incredible.

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NCIS is one of the biggest franchises in the world. Had you watched the show? Were you a fan of any of the series and from the NCIS world, who do you think JD is most like?

I definitely watched a lot of the show. I think subliminally from the moment you’re born, you end up watching episodes of NCIS because it’s on somewhere around the planet 24/7. It’s funny, when I got the role, I remember the elation and the tears were flowing and it was all of that. I was jumping up and down and losing my mind, but then the pressure of being part of such a massive franchise also hit.

At the same time, I thought straight away my character’s like a love child of DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Gibbs (Mark Harmon). He’s the team leader, he’s this straight shooter, he knows what he’s doing, he’s so damn good at what he does – that’s the Gibbs side of things. But DiNozzo’s got that cheek and that charm, you know? He’s got that sass about him that he keeps everyone in check and ribs everyone as well, and that’s what I love about JD and what they’ve also allowed me to bring in. I just had to trust myself as well for the role to be able to keep bringing that to the character through the series and allow me to explore the comedy side of things as well. That’s probably the best way I could explain the blend of my character.

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Is this episode standalone enough for new viewers to tune in?

You know what? Even if you’ve never seen NCIS, if you’ve never seen our series, this is one of those episodes you could tune into and see the level that the show is bringing. The heart that the show is bringing, the action that the show is bringing, but also the emotional depth that they go to. As I said before, I put my entire soul into this final episode, to do it justice and capture that emotional complexity of the role as well. I really think this is the one, I could be biased as well, but this is my favorite episode, and this is the episode where it’s like we get to showcase what we can do. I think you cannot not love this episode, this is top-tier TV.

The NCIS: Sydney season 1 finale airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and streams on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs).

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