FBI: Most Wanted is returning to CBS after a brief break, and the new episode on February 14 will put the pressure on Remy in a way that viewers don’t often see. The team will be on the case of a pair of kidnapped teens, all while Remy deals with the latest development with the man who murdered his brother all those years ago. Star Dylan McDermott opened up about the episode, called “Black Mirror,” in a conversation with CinemaBlend, including what it was like to go undercover as a priest as Remy.
On top of the kidnapping case that will lead the agents to a pastor and his brother in the February 14 episode, fans will remember that Remy recently got the news from his sister that the man convicted of killing their brother wanted to be freed from prison on a conditional medical release since he was dying from cancer. Claire wanted to just let the case go and believed that the killer had paid his debt after a quarter century in prison; Remy quite vehemently disagreed. Speaking with CinemaBlend, Dylan McDermott explained that Remy was “shocked” by his sister’s words, and continued:
I think that [Remy] wants this guy to stay in jail until his dying day. The fact that his sister is saying 'Oh, that's enough, we should forgive and move on' is just incomprehensible for Remy. I think that this is an open gushing wound that he walks around with, and he hasn't been able to let it go. It's what drives him to be an FBI agent. In every case that he does, the criminal has his brother's face attached to it. There's a need and a want in a real personal way. That makes him a great FBI agent, but I think from a psychological standpoint, it's really hard for Remy to carry on and be a real person. It affects all his relationships. I think he's stuck in a way because he can't resolve it.
Based on the request for a conditional medical release, the convicted killer's “dying day” might come sooner rather than later, and happen behind bars if Remy gets his way. Of course, that’s a fairly big “if” at this point, particularly if nobody else from the family is going to argue against it. Remy being motivated by the death of his brother was actually one of the first things that FBI: Most Wanted revealed about the character when he stepped up to replace Jess LaCroix. McDermott shared that he “always” looks forward to storylines involving Remy’s feelings about Mikey, and continued:
It was actually my idea. I brought it to Dick [Wolf] and [showrunner] David [Hudgins] that I wanted to have Remy have loss in his life. It's proven to be great for me as an actor, because it makes everything very specific... There's something about when you're acting and it's specific, [that] it's just different. Because if you've just generalized catching bad guys, and move on to the next case, and that's your job, it's not as potent as when someone has something to prove, and has a history of violence and a history of murder in their lives. I just think it really just fuels Remy in every case.
Even if the task force leader isn’t opening up about his brother on a weekly basis, or constantly talking to his coworkers about being motivated by Mikey’s death, Dylan McDermott is able to use that backstory as fuel for his character. That comes in especially handy in light of just how long a season of FBI: Most Wanted is from a production standpoint, as he elaborated:
I like it, because I can keep referring back to it in every case, so I don't get lost. It's a lot of work. 22 episodes is a lot of bad guys. It's a lot of scripts, different directors. But for me, I can always be fine-tuning, because I know why I'm doing it. So it's not just, quote unquote 'procedural' for me as an actor, because I have a reason that I'm doing this and the same for Remy as a character.
FBI: Most Wanted (as well as many of the others in the nine-show Dick Wolf TV universe) is often categorized as a procedural, with the main characters investigating new cases on a weekly basis. For Dylan McDermott and Remy Scott, however, there is an ongoing storyline for him as a character as well as the lead FBI agent on the fugitive task force. When I noted that TV characters having histories and threads that continue beyond just one week can help viewers become invested, McDermott replied:
Viewers are very smart. People, when they're watching a television program... It's why people turn the channel, it's why people don't come back to a show. They have all the power in their hand and that remote, and sometimes they turn it off or they get mad and they don't come back, or they keep coming back and they're compelled to come back and they're invested in the characters.
There are certainly a lot of TV options nowadays, between broadcast network competition, premium cable offerings, and of course all that streaming services have to offer. (FBI: Most Wanted itself can be found streaming with a Paramount+ subscription.) Keeping fans invested can keep shows going, and that investment undoubtedly contributed to why Most Wanted earned a two-season renewal along with FBI and FBI: International.
This was particularly impressive for Most Wanted in light of the Season 3 death of Jess LaCroix, played by original series star Julian McMahon. The loss of Jess was on McDermott’s mind when he joined (fresh off of playing the villainous Richard Wheatley over on Law & Order: Organized Crime) the CBS show, as he said:
For me, it was a tall order when I first came on this show, because there was a beloved character who was the lead, and I had to take over and people had to accept that. And I knew that going in. How was I going to win people over, especially having been playing a bad guy for a while? There was a lot at stake here. It was a great thing for me as a mathematical problem. How do I come in and do all of that stuff? So I knew I had to be very specific in what I was doing to attract people, to keep them.
McDermott was certainly playing a very bad guy on Organized Crime as the mastermind ultimately responsible for the death of the main character’s wife, so he has had a lot of work to do in establishing Remy over the episodes since he arrived on Most Wanted. And in “Black Mirror” on February 14, that will involve Remy going undercover as a priest! The priestly twist was revealed early on in images for the episode, and the star previewed how going undercover as a priest is different than past times that he’s gone under:
Growing up Catholic and being around nuns and priests and going to church and confession and all that stuff, communion, and all of it, I think, played into me. And that's always great, because then you have a reference. You're not just making it up. You actually have history, and anytime that happens, that's magic. You don't have to do research, because you already lived it. By the time I put on that priest collar and that hat and the trench coat, I knew exactly who that priest was.
While it’s safe to say that the parallels between Remy Scott the seasoned FBI agent and Dylan McDermott the actor are probably pretty limited in “Black Mirror,” the actor did have some personal experience to draw upon to play a priest. And in fact, he enjoyed playing the priest so much that he’d be game to do it again, as McDermott shared:
So now, I'm actually looking for a spinoff of the priest [laughs] that I could do in my spare time, because I love him so much. That guy was just... so scary and so specific as well, and there was something about him.. Sometimes you play these characters, and you don't want to stop being them. You know, it happened to me a few times. When I did Ryan Murphy's Hollywood, it happened. This priest, it also happened, where sometimes you sit in your trailer, and you still want to be that guy. So that happened again in this episode... because I was all in on this one.
While the star of course didn’t drop all the spoilers of what happens that leads Remy to go undercover as a priest – or whether it’s possible that he’ll be able to revisit that persona again in the future – McDermott going “all in” is pretty promising for whatever happens in the new episode! It sounds like “Black Mirror” is an episode that fans won’t want to miss, with a case that somehow combines Remy pretending to be a priest while seemingly also dealing with the aftermath of his brother’s killer wanting to be released from jail.
See how it all goes down with the “Black Mirror” episode of FBI: Most Wanted on Tuesday, February 14 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, following FBI: International (which is bringing back former series regular Christiane Paul as a guest star) at 9 p.m. and the original FBI at 8 p.m. Plus, all three shows will combine for a three-part crossover later this year, which hasn’t happened with the FBIs since back in 2021, so fans have a lot to look forward to.
