Dylan McDermott On His New Role in CBS' "FBI: Most Wanted"

"Then, when Most Wanted came around, I thought, ‘Wow, what a great opportunity to go from one Wolf show to the next and sort of create an entirely different character and have people watch that kind of back-to-back," he continued. "I'd never seen it done before, frankly, and I thought, ‘That's cool, let's play with that.' It's exciting to me as an actor to be able to go from a wildly bad guy to a character who is so noble, and what a great exercise for me as an actor."

As the new kid on the block, McDermott went method, choosing to make his entry to the series as real as possible. "My first day at work was my introduction to the actors," he recalled. "That was great because as Remy was introduced to them, Dylan was introduced to them, at the same time. They had asked if I'd like to meet the actors and sit down with them and talk, [but] I said, 'No. I want it to be as if it's Remy's first day and Dylan's first day coincides.' That was great because they were checking me out, and I was checking them out. It was a little awkward -- new guy stuff -- but it worked out beautifully.

"I feel like we've hit the ground running with the first episode," he added. "We were into a case right away. Because these are professional people, and these are agents, they know they have a job to do. Yes, maybe they have feelings, certainly, about who I am or where I came from, but I think that awkwardness really sort of diminishes after the first episode."

"I agree," concurred series executive producer David Hudgins. "The idea of a new leader coming into a team is such an interesting dynamic to play as writers. What's fun about this episode, and the next couple going forward, is as we start to unpack more about who Remy is you start to see the way the rest of the team is responding to him. One of my favorite things about the new energy and vibe of the team is there's a lightness to it in a good way, and we can lean into the moments of humor on the show now with Dylan. The way he's playing him is very surprising, both to the team and sometimes to us, in a good way."

The abrupt switching of gears from playing a bad guy to a good guy hasn't gone unnoticed by the legion of fans in the Wolf Den -- and McDermott is well aware the of chatter. "I've been reading comments online," he said. "People are saying, 'It's too soon.' 'He's Richard Wheatley.' 'He's a bad guy.' I relish it as I think it's amazing people actually believe the character that I play and that I'm him. And, by the way, they haven't even seen the episodes. I love that because now they're gonna see me in a completely different light. Richard Wheatley and Remy Scott are wildly different people with wildly different agendas in life. I knew instinctively I'd been playing some ‘questionable people' along the way, and now it was time to play someone good again. Remy Scott is that character. I think you're gonna quickly forget about Richard Wheatley by the end of [my first] episode.

"I was eager to shed the bad guy," he continued. "That was very successful for me but at the same time, I knew it was time to change and go into a lighter side of myself. I was eager for Remy to show up, and it's been wonderful to work on every day. There's a level of it I enjoy because a lot of times when you're playing a character, and it's well-worn, they start to take over. It's no longer Dylan so much, and it becomes Remy. That's why I'm an actor. When you're playing a character, they start to feed ideas, and that's when it's fun.

"The same passion that maybe Remy has for solving a case is the same passion Dylan has for acting," McDermott added in closing. "I love being able to create a character. When you look at [the Netflix limited series] Hollywood to Organized Crime to Most Wanted, those are three vastly different characters, and I love that."

FBI: Most Wanted is telecast Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m. on CBS.

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