William McInnes as Forensic Pathologist Dr. Roy Penrose, Tuuli Narkle as AFP Liaison Officer Constable Evie Cooper, Todd Lasance as AFP Liaison Officer Sergeant Jim ‘JD’ Dempsey, Olivia Swann as NCIS Special Agent Captain Michelle Mackey, Sean Sagar as Special Agent DeShawn Jackson, and Mavournee Hazel as Forensic Pathologist Bluebird ‘Blue’ Gleeson in NCIS: SYDNEY – Season 1 | ©2025 CBS/Daniel Asher Smith

NCIS: SYDNEY is now in its third season on CBS Tuesday nights, with episodes, and the two previous seasons, thereafter available on Paramount Plus. How does this series differentiate itself from all the other iterations of the venerable NCIS franchise?

Well, for starters, as implied in its title, NCIS: SYDNEY is shot and takes place in Sydney, Australia, where members of the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service team up with officers of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to solve maritime crimes.

For another thing, the other versions of NCIS don’t have bad guys being eaten by crocodiles, as happened in the NCIS: SYDNEY Season 2 finale.

Finally, the other shows don’t have Olivia Swann as NCIS Supervisory Special Agent Michelle Mackey, who is in charge of the American contingent Down Under.

Swann is English, born in London, but employs an American accent for Mackey. That wasn’t a problem, she explains during a Zoom interview. “I spent three seasons on a show called LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, playing an American. So, I did have practice. But on this show, we actually have a dialect coach who helps us. And Sean [Sagar], who plays DeShawn, is also British, and so we stay in the accent all the time, as soon as we get to set in the mornings until as soon as we wrap, which can be challenging, but I think it helps us wrangle a very different voice to our own.”

The accent wasn’t an issue, but when Swann was first told she had an audition for NCIS: SYDNEY, she didn’t think she had a chance of landing the part.

“I saw ‘NCIS: SYDNEY’ and was instantly like, ‘Oh. Okay, sick.’ The main thing I questioned was I think initially Mackey was meant to be thirty-nine or something, which I am not. So, I instantly thought, ‘Well, I’m not getting this role,’ and just cracked on with the tape.”

The producers were impressed enough with Swann to change Mackey’s age. “The fact I get to be in Sydney and be part of the huge American NCIS franchise is amazing. I feel like I get the best of both worlds.”

Swann is relieved she wasn’t asked to try out for one of the Australian characters. “Thank God, because I couldn’t do an Australian accent. I thought I could. I arrived in Australia and was very quickly told that I could not. But I think it’s getting better after being around so many Australians. But I think my preference would be playing an American above an Australian, because it’s a very hard accent to do.”

Was Swann a fan of NCIS before becoming part of the franchise?

Olivia Swann as NCIS Special Agent Captain Michelle Mackey in NCIS: SYDNEY – Season 3 | ©2025 CBS/John Tsiavis

“I was very aware of NCIS. It’s one of those shows that feels like it’s just existed forever. So, I knew of it, but I never binged a season. But since joining, I’ve obviously delved into the OG seasons and HAWAI’I and delved into the franchise and the universe. It’s been really fun to see the similarities and the differences between [the various NCIS series], and to get a sense of the world that I’m now part of, which is awesome.”

How much of Mackey is on the page for Swann, and how much does she bring to the role herself?

“I think the writers have done an amazing job of building Mackey and giving me a really good blueprint of her from Season 1. What I love doing as an actor, as we move through the seasons, I always want to discover new things about her. So, whenever I get scripts, I delve into them and try and make connections and make new choices, so the audience gets to see a very different side to her. That is definitely on show this season with the writing especially, because we delve into our characters’ back stories, and how the past is coming back to haunt them.”

Much of NCIS: SYDNEY concerns the differences between U.S. and Australian approaches to enforcing naval law, Swann observes. “A lot of Season 1 was the butting of heads of Mackey and JD [aka Jim Dempsey, Mackey’s AFP counterpart, played by Todd Lasance], the heads of their respective teams. Now that’s kind of become more of a jell and a bond. We do play with the differences between Americans and Australians. There are a lot of those jokes peppered through all of the seasons, and that continues to happen in Season 3, which is always very fun.”

The last portion of Season 2 had the NCIS/AFP unit in the coastal town of Darwin, which called for Mackey to pilot a speedboat. Did Swann have to learn how to do that or anything else in order to play Mackey?

“I actually got a boat license for the scenes in Darwin, where I am driving a speedboat. So, I can technically drive a boat in Australia, which is a fun fact. All of the action stuff, we work with the stunt team, who choreograph the stunts. We have stunt doubles who we work with to help us look as capable and as cool as possible in all of the action sequences. So, I’m very lucky that I get to do a lot of stuff with Mackey.

I never held a gun before in my life, so we had an armorer teaching us the proper posture, and how to hold it, all that kind of stuff. Actually drawing a gun is one of the hardest parts, because you have to click it, it gets stuck, it’s a mess. I’m really keen to do as much as possible, so I get to learn a lot of stunt moves and fight moves, which is really awesome. So, this job is a dream. I get to do so much.”

Some actions are deemed to hazardous for an actor to do. For instance, when Mackey blows lighter fire in an adversary’s face, Swann explains, “Sadly, I didn’t get to breathe any fire, I just go,” she blows on an imaginary flame, “and then they add the fire in post.”

Likewise, Swann didn’t really crash through a plate-glass window. That was the stuntie, rightly so. I wanted to, but everyone told me, ‘Absolutely not,’ because it’s far too dangerous, and it is a stunt double’s job to do that. But I learned the fight [surrounding the crash], and a lot of that is me, as well as my stuntie. We kind of chop and change between. All of the stuff that’s feasible and safe for me to do, I will try and do myself, but when it comes to fire and glass, people are less happy for me to do that, which I understand.”

In Season 3, we see that Mackey isn’t too happy about JD trying out a dating app. Is there some romantic tension brewing between the partners?

“Romantic tension is great. I think it adds a lot to characters. So, yeah, we see JD embarking on the dating route, which may or may not be good news to Mackey. But she is the leader of a team, and she has to respect the hierarchy, and I think for her, if she were to allow herself to lean into whatever feelings might be there, whatever thoughts might be there, then she would shift the dynamic of the team in a negative way. So, she is very much, ‘Look, I have to focus on my job, and I have to keep people safe.’ So, she I think forces herself to maybe take herself out of the equation.”

Without spoiling anything for Season 3, does Swann have favorite episodes from Seasons 1 and 2?

“I think the [Season 2] finale episodes in Darwin are fantastic. There was so much going on, the stakes were really high, I got to breathe fire in someone’s face and go through a window and have a fight on a veranda and almost get shot. And I loved the tension between Mackey and JD, I thought that was really interesting. And we got to go to Darwin, which was a whole experience. I think that was my favorite.”

While Sydney is a fairly normal major city, the Australian wild is famous for its nonhuman residents, some of which are venemous. Were any extra precautions necessary when shooting in Darwin?

“When we were out in Darwin, we had croc spotters with us, so there were people who were holding these massive wooden oars, which were covered in bite marks and claw marks. So, they were prepped and ready, especially by water, to fend off crocodiles for us while we were filming.

“[When] we’re out in the bush, we have to be aware of snakes and all that kind of stuff. I had a run-in with a huntsman spider this year, which was terrifying.” Huntsman spiders are not very poisonous, but they are extremely sizable. “It was my first huntsman that I’ve seen, and it was massive. Normally, I don’t like spiders, but I think that’s when I confirmed I have arachnophobia, because it was the worst night of my life,” Swann laughs.

Apart from the arachnid encounter, has Swann found any part of doing NCIS: SYDNEY especially challenging?

“There are definitely a couple of episodes this season [Season 3] where we see Mackey dealing with emotions and is in a very different emotional space, and that’s always a little tricky, because you have to allow yourself to feel certain things and get into places that aren’t necessarily nice.

“But I wouldn’t say that is a challenge. I think that’s a really exciting part of acting, in terms of delving into those emotions and trying to treat them as truthfully as possible. The action stuff is always a very fun challenge, making sure that you’re safe and that everything’s working and that it looks great, but again, a challenge that I will happily take on. And the action sequences are so huge this season, too.”

The episodes in Darwin deal with real-world Australian political issues. Does Swann know if there was discussion between the creative team and the Australian government about the storyline?

That’s a good question for Morgan [O’Neill, who created NCIS: SYDNEY] and the writers. I don’t know the kind of ins and outs of bringing that story to life, so if there was any pushback or any setbacks, I’m not sure. But I always think it’s good that we get to delve into real existing Australian stories and pieces of history that have happened within Australia, because it helps to educate people like myself, who did not know about it.”

Swann the actor relates that there is another Olivia Swann, who is a singer; they are not the same person. “Having said that, I think I am on Spotify because of LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, where I had to sing in two different episodes. But I’m definitely not the other Olivia Swann, so don’t make me sing, please,” she laughs.

And what would Swann most like people to know about NCIS: SYDNEY Season 3?

“That it is next level. We have upped everything a good few notches and to expect way more action, drama, heart, fun, intrigue than in the seasons before, and to strap in for a very wild ride.”

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Article: Exclusive Interview: Actress Olivia Swann on Season 3 Aussie spin-off NCIS: SYDNEY

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