‘Homeland” fans freaked out last January when they learned that Diego Klattenhoff, who played Mike Faber on the Showtime series, would not be returning as a regular.
But their despair turned to joy when it turned out the 6’0” hunk was joining a new NBC pilot, “The Blacklist,” as FBI agent Donald Ressler.
That little pilot is one of the season’s biggest breakout hits. “The Blacklist” premiere last fall shot out of the gate with nearly 13 million viewers and a chunky 3.8 rating in the under-50 demo.
New episodes of the series return Monday night at 10 after a month-long hiatus.
“I’m not going to lie to you, you can see [the ratings] kind of reinvigorate the crew, the cast,” Klattenhoff tells The Post. “By the time the show comes out, we’ve been shooting for months. And you think it’s going to go over well, but you don’t know.”
“The Blacklist” has now broken several DVR records, most recently with the largest 3-day addition of 5.43 million viewers, bringing its total for that week to over 14 million viewers.
“It’s incredible, but then again, the other side of the sword is [that] there’s the pressure to keep that up, to keep delivering week in, week out,” says Klattenhoff.
Born in Nova Scotia, the 34-year-old Canadian, who now calls Brooklyn home, got his start on screen with bit parts before scoring the role of Shane Oman, Rachel McAdams’ boyfriend in the cult movie hit “Mean Girls” a decade ago. Fans like to quote back his Kalteen bar lines to him.
“Ten years! Making me feel old,” he says. “ It’s always consistently playing somewhere on TV when you’re hung over, laying on the couch.”
Since then, he’s aged out of high school jock territory, first on “Mercy” and then on “Homeland,” which finally gave him name recognition in the industry. Doors began to open.
“For years, I did whatever I could just to pay the bills and gain experience and work with as many different people as I could,” he says. “So last year was interesting because for the first time, more people [saw my] work and respect[ed] what [I’m] doing.”
In other words, he was killing it on “Homeland,” and Hollywood noticed. Last year, he landed spots in big-budget films “After Earth” and “Pacific Rim.” It’s to his credit that he wasn’t even fully himself on “Homeland”: they covered up some of his freckles to differentiate him from series lead Damian Lewis (Nicholas Brody), who had too-similar a complexion.
“You got me on that one,” he says, laughing. “Yeah, [and] they dyed my hair dark brown. I’m a little bit lighter than he is, but it’s difficult because sometimes [with] the lighting, you have to put a little bit more makeup on. So I think I lost a few freckles in that deal.”
On “The Blacklist,” however, he gets to keep his natural hair tone — and the freckles.
It’s funny, then, that “The Blacklist” has its lead, James Spader, sans his signature hair. The men likely haven’t spent much time discussing their coiffs, but Klattenhoff says he has learned a thing or two from the veteran actor.
“It’s very unnerving to go to work with someone who’s that accomplished and intense,” he says. “He’s very personable, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t want to be the weak link in the chain.”
And how does Klattenhoff keep from being the weak link? For one thing, by staying grounded, even when he’s running around the streets of New York with a gun. “It’s hard not to [feel like that], but also I know that I’m not as bad as I am on the show,” he says. “I’m not one of these actors who’s out of touch with reality, put it that way.”