Blindspot
Premieres: Sept. 21
Airs: Mondays at 10pm
Who’s In It? Jaimie Alexander, Sullivan Stapleton, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Audrey Esparza, Ukweli Roach, Ashley Johnson
Stargate’s Martin Gero and uber-producer Greg Berlanti (Arrow, Brothers & Sisters) created this fascinating, action-packed new NBC thriller that stars Thor’s Jaimie Alexander as a beautiful, badass amnesiac who is discovered zipped into a duffel bag in Times Square, naked and covered neck to ankles in fresh tattoos. The biggest one? FBI agent Kurt Weller’s (Sullivan Stapleton, Strike Back) name shoulder to shoulder across her back.
While Weller and his colleagues scramble to unravel the complex message emblazoned on Jane Doe’s body (while guarding secrets of their own), Jane herself must also figure out who she is and whether or not she can trust the memories that return to her in fits and starts.
“We’re defined by our choices. You just don’t remember yours,” the bureau’s psychologist, Dr. Borden (Ukweli Roach, The Royals), tells the agonized woman. “Try new things. Or make new choices. The more things you try, the less helpless you’ll feel. Even if nothing ever comes back, you can still find yourself.”
Plenty to think about, right there. But the ink is the thing in Blindspot. “There’s so much story in the tattoos,” explains Gero, who says the idea for the series sprung from a dream. “We really needed to develop the first couple seasons in the back of our heads, because every week these tattoos send them off in different directions. The people who created them have a specific plan in mind — they want to walk the FBI through some things. And you can’t build a treasure map without knowing where that gold is at the end.”
“A gentleman [David Kwong] who works on the show helps build puzzles and crosswords for the New York Times, so there’s going to be a reexamination of tattoos that you’ve seen before — you’ll see some of them in a whole new way,” adds Berlanti.
Alexander, who spends seven or more hours every few days having the faux ink reapplied, says she relished the Navy SEAL training that came with the role. “I have a huge fight background,” she says, “so my own skill set, aside from my character’s, definitely influence my performance, and makes it possible [for] this character’s hand‑to‑hand combat to be brutal, efficient, quick and realistic.”
But, she adds, playing the myriad emotions that Jane experiences as snippets of her past life emerge proved equally fun. And it shows. To watch Jane stand before a mirror and realize her plight in the series premiere leaves an indelible mark.
Blindspot premieres Monday, Sept. 21 at 10pm on NBC.
