Panjabi bursts into action
Good Wife actor plays wild character in Blindspot
BEVERLY HILLS, California — Archie Panjabi of The Good Wife is getting back into series drama with Blindspot, taking her out of her comfort zone.
“I have always wanted to do an action-based TV show,” she said. When contacted about the NBC drama, “my first reaction was: ‘Gosh, I’d be terrified to do something like that,’ which is why I finally decided I wanted to do it.”
Panjabi, who played investigator Kalinda Sharma on CBS’s The Good Wife, was asked at a TV critics’ meeting last week if her recurring Blindspot character would carry Kalinda’s air of mystery. The actor was suitably mysterious in her reply, saying she didn’t want to “give away too much.” But she did throw out some adjectives.
“She’s tough, she’s tenacious, she’s wild and unpredictable,” Panjabi said of Nazanin Al-Obaidy, who leads a clandestine government division in the series that stars Jaimie Alexander.
Panjabi was even more circumspect when asked about her tenure on Good Wife, which was marked by reports that she and star Julianna Margulies had a tense relationship. She said she loved playing Kalinda and had a “great time on the show,” which she won an Emmy for in 2010 and left in 2015. Good Wife ended its run this year.
“In terms of anything that happened on The Good Wife, it’s only respectful for it to stay on The Good Wife.
“It was time for me, for many reasons, to unzip the boots and step into another show,” Panjabi said, referring to Kalinda’s fondness for thigh-high boots.
Blindspot producers enthusiastically welcomed her.
“It’s like winning the lottery to have Archie on the show,” producer Sarah Schechter said.
The show, which aired in its freshman season on Mondays, will be shown on Wednesdays. It makes its debut on Sept. 14 at an earlier hour.
The earlier time will mean some of the show’s violence will be toned down, but Blindspot will remain recognizable to its first season fans, said another producer, Martin Gero.