Earlier today I posted an advance review of Thursday's new episode of Nikita, which features the return of Devon Sawa as the former Division agent, Owen.
With each reappearance of Owen, we learn more about his backstory as a cleaner and guardian for Division, as well as his character. Thursday's episode has him recruiting Nikita to help locate another black box, as well as battling a withdrawal from a Division-supplied regimen of pills. This afternoon I had the pleasure of speaking with Devon and discussing the show with him.
Devon loves playing Owen on Nikita. Once he stopped being a guardian, he’s been very focused on trying to make up for the things he did while working for Division. While he was an agent, Owen was focused on being a “machine”, taking orders, and doing things he now can’t believe he did. But this episode is another step in Owen’s quest for redemption for his former life.
The upcoming episode, “Into the Dark”, has quite a few action scenes, the best of which feature Owen fighting some other professional hitmen. A portion of an action scene can be found in the sneak peek at the bottom of my earlier review, but that’s only a taste. Owen has some wicked moves in the upcoming episode and it’s all Devon behind the kicks and punches. He says that the cast does all of their own stunts. They take their cues from leading lady Maggie Q, who insists on doing her own stunt work and doesn’t like having her stunt double step in. The good news is that they got extra help for the episode in the form of Ray Park, a leading stunt expert who also starred as Darth Maul in an earlier Star Wars prequel (he was that guy who kicked asses without talking).
A lot of fans are curious about the source of the tension between Owen and Michael in the upcoming episode. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that they don’t get along. I posed the question to Devon as to what the reason behind that tension might be. He was quick to point out that this is his own opinion and not necessarily what the writers have decided, but he thinks that there might be a history between Michael and Owen while they were both working at Division. But could there be something between Nikita and Owen - an attraction perhaps? - that could also be the source of this tension between the two men in her life? Devon doesn’t believe there’s a lot of jealousy there. While there may be a spark between Nikita and Owen, he thinks that Owen is far too preoccupied with his own current path to focus on a potential relationship with another former Division agent.
Devon (and I) would definitely like to see Owen again on the show, maybe teaming up with Alex to take down Division or interacting with Michael again to explore a potential backstory between the two men. He’s also itching to have Owen face Division’s Roan again, since the two of them have some unfinished business after their last fight earlier in the season, as do Owen and Percy.
As for Devon, he’s enjoying filming in Toronto for Nikita. Devon originally hails from Vancouver and has spent a lot of his career working in Toronto. His first job was in the city as a Nerf Toys spokeskid at the tender age of 11. You can also see Devon in theaters in the Fall as one of the stars of 388 Arletta Avenue, along with Nick Stahl.
And for that one Twitter fan who asked, a lot of Devon’s tattoos are real. The large dragon sketch is his own, and the makeup department filled in the rest for Owen.
You don't want to miss the April 14 episode of Nikita. Mikita fans should be pleased and Devon Sawa/Owen fans will also be happy that that one of our favorite former Division agents is back, kicking ass and taking names (uh....less with the names part and more with the ass-kicking, but that's all semantics).
clarissa @ tvovermind.com
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Great article. I'm so excited to see Owen kick more butt! I'm glad there's no romantic feelings there and he's more focused on his mission. His story is so compelling. I would love for their to be histroy between Micheal and Owen. It makes sense, since Micheal knew about the black boxes before. I can't wait! Thanks for the article!
I think you mean "kicking ass" and not "kissing ass" in that last paragraph. Either way, great article!
Haha, wow. What an embarrassing typo! Thanks for pointing it out.