This Tuesday at 9/8c, CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles team makes tracks for Afghanistan, to track down and rescue a fallen-off-the-grid Kensi. TVLine spoke with new mom Daniela Ruah about filming Kensi’s solo mission while increasingly pregnant, her character’s conflict, “turbulent” times for Deeks and a somewhat controversial clobbering.

TVLINE | As I’ve spoken to Shane Brennan over the past six months or so, I’ve marveled at what he was able to pull together to work around the pregnancy and spin an exciting yarn, all without missing a beat. When did you tell him what was going on?
I held off from telling anybody but family until the 12-week mark, but that happened to come along about two weeks before we started shooting the season, which bode well for me because I gave Shane plenty of time to make a plan. So I scheduled a call and said I had some awesome news, that I’m 12 weeks pregnant, and his reaction was one of immediate joy. I said, “I know this is kind of like going to happen in the middle of the season, which doesn’t make things easy for anybody…,” but he was like, “No. No. No. This is the most joyous thing that’ll ever happen to you. Take advantage of every moment of it!”

TVLINE | I think the only consideration in this particular instance is that it’s one thing for Scandal’s pregnant Kerry Washington, who has fashionable pocketbooks and Oval Office furniture to hide behind, while we’re used to seeing Kensi running around in the field, packing heat, chopping guys down….
Right. I mean, the fact that they [accommodated] all of this is a huge, huge testament to how creative and supportive our writing staff is. It would have been so easy for them to just say, “OK. We sent Kensi to Afghanistan and she’ll be back when she’s back” — and they didn’t.

TVLINE | What did pre-filming Kensi’s storyline translate into for you?
I kept working until I was seven-and-a-half months pregnant. That was actually one of the reasons why they sent me to a place that would be cold, so I’d have an excuse to wear all that clothing and hide the belly. Scott Gemmill wrote the loose scenes of Kensi’s time in Afghanistan and then the writers of each episode would basically take those and make sense of them when they wrote their respective episodes. As I watched the show, it didn’t feel like the scenes stood out as being something we shot three months ago.

TVLINE | Any fun anecdotes of braving “Afghanistan” while pregnant?
In the scene where I purposely missed the shot with Jack, I think I was six-and-a-half months pregnant, so we dug a hole in the sand that I was fitting my belly inside. And then when the bad guys started shooting in my direction, I remember feeling like a turtle on my back, not being able to get back up! [Laughs] It was pretty funny. In the future, I can be like, “Hey, River, you were right there during those scenes,” if [my son] ever decides to go back and watch my work.

Read the entire interview HERE.

Source: TV Line