Emily Wickersham knew she had big shoes to fill when she joined the cast of “NCIS” early last season following the departure of Cote de Pablo.
But, she says, her transition into the role of “probie” agent Ellie Bishop was smoother than expected.
“I try not to read some of the stuff online, but for the most part I feel like people have embraced the character in a much more positive way than I expected,” Wickersham tells the August issue of Watch! magazine.
“People were very attached to Ziva!” she says, alluding to de Pablo’s character, Special Agent Ziva David, a role de Pablo played for eight seasons.
“I wasn’t replacing her, but it was scary to come into that,” she says. “People are crazy about the show. [We] have such wonderful fans.”
“NCIS” is the first regular TV gig for Wickersham, who was best-known to viewers as Rhiannon — AJ’s (Robert Iler) girlfriend on “The Sopranos” — before winning the job as Ellie.
“I had never held a gun in my life, but my character becomes an agent so I had to know how to shoot,” she says. “The tech adviser took me to the gun range, and I felt like the gun was going to turn around and shoot me, even though I was pointing it away … and I went to Camp Pendelton — hardcore! — and met with real NCIS agents, which was pretty cool.”
Wickersham, who was born in Kansas, grew up in New York City but moved to LA five years ago.
“When I first moved, I thought, ‘I don’t know about this LA thing. It’s so weird here and people are weird here,’” she says.
“But I’ve made the best friends … and I really like it.”