TV

TV’s biggest hit ‘NCIS’ welcomes Emily Wickersham

“Robbie, we need a dead guy!” calls director James Whitmore Jr., in a hurry to get the cameras rolling for a murder scene. “The dead guy’s walking over right now!” yells an assistant.

It’s not just another day in Calgrove Park, on location in Valencia, Calif., with the cast and crew of CBS’ massive hit, “NCIS” Because on this day, one of its stars is very blonde, very young, and very new to a show that consistently draws 20 million viewers.

“My first day here, I was really, really nervous and intimidated,” says Emily Wickersham, who plays Ellie Bishop, a whip-smart NSA analyst on loan to the NCIS team. “When I get nervous, my heart races and I talk more than I usually do. This is a big, big thing.”

No kidding. Because while most other dramas are long gone, or only a shadow of their former selves, “NCIS” in its 11th season is not only holding on to its intensely loyal fans, but attracting new ones. “People want to spend time with this team,” says showrunner Gary Glasberg. “It’s comfort food.”

Sean Murray (from left) Mark Harmon, Wickersham and Michael Weatherly find a dead body.CBS

Which is why, when the show lost one of its main characters, Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), in the fall, it was a seismic shift for the cast led by Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly.

“You always worry a little bit about what’s going to happen,” says Murray. “But it’s also taking a brick out of the wall. You want to make sure the new brick is going to slide right in there nicely.”

“NCIS” has lost cast members before (Sasha Alexander, Lauren Holly) and survived. But everyone admits that losing de Pablo was a real threat to the show’s remarkable star chemistry. What you see on screen is a direct reflection of what you see on set. Does Harmon set the tone? Check. Do Weatherly and Sean Murray constantly tease each other? Check. Is there a palpable friendliness underscored by a serious work ethic? Double check. “I’ve said this from the beginning,” says Harmon. “You can’t be here if you don’t wanna be here. This is a hard job to do when everything is right.”

So when contract talks with de Pablo broke off in July (the actress wanted a break after eight years on the show), production was already well underway; several scripts had to be re-written. But Glasberg made his case to the network that they should leave Ziva’s desk empty for awhile.

“People have to have the chance to mourn,” says Glasberg. “To instantly replace her would’ve been a huge mistake.”

So here’s what you don’t know about the transition: Glasberg’s strategy was to make Ellie Bishop “as different from Ziva’s Mossad agent as possible.” In his mind, that meant making Bishop a midwestern girl, and going younger. “New agents are called ‘probies,’” Glasberg explains. “And it’s been awhile since we’ve had a new one.”

They considered “hundreds” of actresses from LA to New York and London. Four finalists were flown in to do old-fashioned, on-camera auditions with Harmon and the Weatherly/Murray duo. “We had written scenes, even though there wasn’t a script yet,” says Glasberg. “And in walks Emily Wickersham, and she does this fantastic scene with Mark Harmon that left us all looking saying, ‘I think that’s it.’ ”

Unbeknownst to Wickersham, who was indeed born in Kansas but grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, the test didn’t end when the cameras stopped rolling. “She was also being tested off camera,” says Murray, who says the actress was vetted between scenes and over lunch. “She’s bubbly, super excited to be here and to tackle whatever is put in front of her. There was just something about her that felt right.”

“When you have crew members coming up to you and whispering, ‘She’s the one,’ you really have to think about it,” says Glasberg.

Did she make mistakes? Yes, says Harmon, telling the story of Wickersham, in one scene, walking out of the interrogation room, into the hallway and turning left — the wrong way. “And she just turned around and came back,” says Harmon. “It was a mistake, but we kept it, because it also defines her character. I give her a lot of credit because to come in here and bring something that nobody else is bringing, it’s hard.”

But Wickersham can hold her own, on screen and off. Leon Carroll, a former NCIS agent who is the show’s technical advisor, was in charge of teaching her to handle weapons and handcuffs. Having never held a gun, the actress could’ve been forgiven for being surprised by the weapon’s noise and serious kick-back. But, says Carroll, “she didn’t flinch.”

In fact, Wickersham seems to enjoy the “take no prisoners” route. She won’t reveal her age, and is closed-mouth about her marriage to rocker Blake Hanley, the lead singer of Ghost Lion. Best known for playing A.J.’s girlfriend on “The Sopranos,” Wickersham is a college dropout who took public speaking and acting classes “to face my biggest fears. I wasn’t good at it, but there was something about it I just couldn’t stop.”

And now, she’s landed one of the most-watched shows. CBS gave itself some protection by signing Wickersham for three episodes, with an option to join the main cast. But Harmon says that as far as he’s concerned, the deal is done. “From day one, she was part of this,” he says. “Her name was painted on a parking space from the first day she arrived. And the name on her dressing room was not a piece of tape. Now that she’s here it’s like, great, onward.”