NIKITA: Avengers and Amanda Are the Themes for Season 3

Nikita kicks off its third season tonight for what promises to be another high octane thrill ride.

In an interview with showrunner Craig Silverstein and members of the cast – Maggie Q (Nikita), Shane West (Michael), Lindsy Fonseca (Alex), Melinda Clarke (Amanda) and Aaron Stanford (Birkhoff) – at this summer’s Comic Con, interviewers learned that Season 3 of Nikita will be as different as Season 2 was from Season 1. Michael and Nikita are inside Division now, and no longer on the run. Alex is now a public figure drawing the interest of the papparazzi, forcing her to change her undercover tactics. Percy is gone (dead). Amanda has gone underground. Birkhoff no longer has to finance operations. Ryan is running Division and getting his orders directly from the President.

Some of you may recall that the theme for last year was “home”. Silverstein revealed that this season there are two overarching themes. The first is “family”.

“We were all inspired by [easyazon-link asin=”B001KVZ6HK”]The Avengers[/easyazon-link], the movie. The fact that they were all brought together and they all were squabbling and fighting each other. They were serving this common cause, and they all united at the end. I really liked that. I think I see the same kind of dynamics in our Nikita family that formed.”

But not everyone is happy with the new family dynamic. “It’s about that, and it’s about Amanda,” said Silverstein. “[She’s] been cast out and wants to show these kids that they can’t throw their mom out, basically. She’s coming back and she’s going to make them suffer.”

According to Silverstein, Amanda will make her first appearance in episode four.

Meanwhile, the first episode takes place in China and the agent they are going after is “a monster”, according to Maggie Q. During this mission, we will see the disorganization and stress as everyone finds their place and learns to accept the place and duties of the others. Serious as that sounds, in this transition we will also see a lot of humor. Nikita and Michael’s relationship is on the upswing which helps them through the stress. Silverstein, revealed that something really big happens between Michael and Nikita at the end of the first episode.

According to Maggie Q, her character has “two dynamics going on”. She has this enormous weight lifted off her shoulders because she is no longer a rogue agent and no longer has to hide. This is the lighter side and apparently where we will see some of the humor as we watch Nikita’s reaction to some of the everyday things she now encounters. We see that the things that are easy for the everyday person, like us, are hard for her, just as we have watched a Nikita who handles things so easily that would be very hard for us. On the other hand, as Silverstein revealed, Nikita , who was always fighting the man now kind of is the man… or works for the man. Dealing with this difference is going to come to a head at some point and explode into other episodes.

Everyone at Division is taking orders from Ryan, who is running Division more in a position of responsibility than a position of power. According to Silverstein, there is a significant burden on Ryan that he holds back from Nikita until the end of the first episode.

Michael, who did not want to stay with Division, is staying because he has been told that this is “not your father’s Division” and that Division’s purpose now is to right the wrongs that were done during Percy and Amanda’s reign. Chief among those wrongs to right is rounding up 30 rogue agents who have removed their trackers and are now making their way in the world selling the particular specialty they were trained in by Division. For instance, an agent specializing in faking the deaths of inmates on death row is selling his wares to cartel bosses in prison.

Birkhoff, no longer the money man, is looking for his place in the new scheme of things. Though he ended season two with the kiss with Sonya, things are not the same between them as this season begins. According to Aaron Stanford, there has been a jump of a month or a couple of months and something has happened to complicate things. “It’s not good. It’s definitely not good…Saying that he is getting the silent treatment is putting it mildly.”

Nikita returns tonight, October 19, on the CW.