Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid) is going to go through it when an old case rears its head again.
In the November 4 episode of NCIS: Origins, with the countdown on to an execution, Franks races to extricate the location of a missing body from a death row inmate and honor a promise he made to the victim’s sister before time runs out. Below, Schmid previews how that goes, talks about playing Franks, teases what’s to come with that file from the premiere, and more.
Obviously we had a sense of who Mike Franks is based on what we know from the original series. But what’s surprising you the most as you’re getting to know him as he was back then?
Kyle Schmid: That’s interesting because I’m getting to know him through our writing. I’m getting to know him on a daily basis because I am him. I’m becoming him. So that’s kind of a cool question because I’ll tell you one of the best parts about working on this show as somebody who’s been in the industry for 30 years is once a week I get an email with our new script and I have no idea what it’s going to be. And it is such an exciting moment to go, this is it. This is what I’m going to be doing next week. It’s nerve-wracking because you just hope it’s good. And then you got a little bit of the ego going and you’re like, I hope I’m in a lot of it.
Then the most important thing is, how are they going to write my character and how am I going to bring it to life? And with [showrunners] David [J. North] and Gina [Lucita Monreal], I am never short of blown away by the integrity of the writing and the voices of these characters. And every week, I end up sending them a text message or an email thanking them for the dialogue and the character and the writing. It’s such an amazing thing to be able to do because they challenge me on a regular basis.
And we get to meet this character that’s been grandfathered into this origin series because of his relationship with Gibbs [Austin Stowell]. And we get to see how he became and why he is this gruff character that Gibbs looks up to so much and no pressure or anything. [Laughs] But our writers hand me these scenes that are just so well-written and so thoughtful. And then the voice of Franks, I think, rings true to me so much that I get to put on my boots every day and go to work and do what I love and become this man who has a heart that’s as big as this world, who loves his family, his NIS ragtag team of misfits that he’d die for, and go to work with them. And that’s kind of how I feel when I get to go to work at the studio. I love my actors and I love my team, and I get to go to work with a smile on my face every day.
This next episode is a highly stressful one for Franks. Preview this case and how he’s going to be handling it. It gives us a taste of what he was like even before we’re seeing him now.
Yeah, so, Franks says in the episode, “Rookie mistake, making a promise like that.” Promising somebody closure, promising somebody that you can relieve their emotional pain when it comes to loss, such as what [the victim’s sister] is trying to digest in this episode, I mean, what an impossible thing to give anybody. And yet, because Franks wears his heart on his sleeve and becomes so emotionally connected to trying to hold up his end of the bargain, it tears him apart. He takes on the emotional responsibility of something that is impossible. And so he slowly unravels in this episode when he’s given a second shot at righting this wrong, at fulfilling this promise that he was unable to years beforehand.
I think there’s something so admirable about the emotion that he takes on, the fact that he truly takes responsibility for his words and that promise and the fact that it eats him up. I think there’s something valuable in the type of person that takes responsibility and feels the guilt for their actions. And I think that’s a wonderful trait of Franks’. And so we get to see him, through this episode, unravel and feel all the pain that her sister feels and the ups and downs. I mean, what a crazy episode. When they handed it to me, going back to that, I remember calling David and Gina and just almost being in tears because I was just so excited to bring this to life. And it also made me fall in love with Franks.
The season began with that introduction of this mystery with Franks, the file, and Vera (Diany Rodriguez). What can you say about that? It kind of highlights Franks and Vera’s relationship because we see the tension there—especially in this coming episode—but he trusts her, and that file plays into that.
He trusts her. [Laughs] This is such a loaded question because everything with Franks hits the heart, and I think that’s what the audience relates to the most with his character. That file has the ability to empower Franks and absolutely destroy him. And it is a very dangerous tool in this show. So what comes in that file is something that I personally as an actor and as Franks am very eager to see what happens with it.
I heard you’re planning to participate in Movember. Why is that important to you?
I’m heading a campaign called Men for Mental. So men for mental change, men for understanding the psychological kind of hardships of life and hoping that we can make that conversation a much more common conversation had between men, trying to eliminate the stigma around men’s mental health. And ideally, I wanted—it’s okay not to be okay. Most people aren’t okay all the time. And I’ve lost friends to mental health. I’ve lost friends to suicide. I live in an industry where so many people are celebrated for wearing their hearts on their sleeve, but that also invites a vulnerability and into our lives that is often unsustainable. We live our lives through a microscope. I also lost my mother in November of last year.
I’m so sorry.
Thank you. But through that experience, I also recognized that I believe she’s in a better place. And I saw how it affected my family. I recognize how it affected me, and I understand how it feels to shoulder so much emotion and be surrounded by loved ones, but also understand how it feels to be alone at the same time. And so I’ve started having conversations with friends in the industry who have just opened up, and we start having these conversations and I say, just give me 15 minutes of your time so we can just talk about it. Every conversation’s been an hour long. Every conversation just turns into this opportunity to talk openly about life and the opportunity to shed the stigma and put on this kind of courageous, brave jacket and talk about things honestly. And I think it’s been overwhelmingly rewarding to just be able to take the opportunity to talk to friends and then hopefully people can see these videos and turn to their loved ones or turn to their brother or turn to their friend and go, how are you really though? You good? That’s okay. It’s all right, man. You’re not alone. So it’s very important to me.
And it was also important to me to take the opportunity to—When I wasn’t on a show and I’ve had these giant kind of waves through my career, and I always said, when I’m on a show, I’m going to do something to make a difference. And then you’re on a show and all of a sudden you’re working 15 hours a day and you’re trying to juggle—I just had a little girl and I’ve got a family and responsibilities and it’s so easy to blink and life passes you by. And I didn’t want to let that happen again. I think Movember was a great partner with this. I think Mike Franks will have one of the most iconic mustaches on television this year and hopefully many years coming. And I thought this was a great opportunity to team up with Movember.
Gillette jumped on board and donated 10 grand for us right out the gate because they believed in our cause. And we’ve got [a bunch of] people. And just word of mouth, this went from being four interviews to 15 in three days, and there’s an excitement to talking about something that I think actually makes a difference.
NCIS: Origins, Mondays, 10/9c, CBS