TV

Jill Flint gives us the goods on “The Good Wife”

Whenever Agent Lana Delaney shows up on The Good Wife, we couldn’t be happier to see Jill Flint in action. She’s been in high demand the past few years, moving from USA’s Royal Pains to starring in NBC’s hospital hit The Night Shift, so when The Good Wife can get her, they keep her around as long as possible.

Lana and Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) have been on-again-off-again lovers throughout six seasons of The Good Wife, and the most recent episodes have shown the FBI agent and private investigator getting closer to anything resembling commitment than before. Despite Kalinda’s disinterest in formal relationships, she seems to put both Lana and Cary (Matt Czuchry) above the rest, her connections with them (personal and professional) keeping her embroiled in a love triangle she’s not sure she wants out of.

With Archie Panjabi leaving the show after this season, it seems there has to be some resolution with Lana in the next few episodes, although the current situation is also incredibly dangerous. Kalinda’s boyfriend is working for Chicago’s most feared drug kingpin, Lemond Bish0p, and her girlfriend is trying to put him behind bars. If all three of them get out alive, we should be happy. But The Good Wife has proven it isn’t afraid to kill off major characters, which has us hoping Kalinda’s exit is less bloody and more about witness protection, care of Lana Delaney.

We spoke with Jill Flint about her arc on Season 6, working with Archie and why Lana is Kalinda’s most beloved partner.

AfterEllen.com: I want to get started with the Good Wife because we are huge fans on AE. Can you tell me about when you got the call to come back this season, did they make it clear what you were going to be doing?

Jill Flint: I was asked to come back and they wanted a significant arc for me, but I wasn’t able to do it because of The Night Shift. But I did as much as I could with the first three episodes. I never know what is going to happen. I get the script and it’s always a surprise. But I knew it would have to do with something along the lines of Kalinda and me.

AE: It seems like whenever you do show up there’s some sexy scenes you are going to have to partake in with Archie. Are you ever nervous?

JF: I’m not nervous at all, I love working with her. As far as those particular scenes, it’s important for us to show the relationship between these two people. We want it to be two very real women who have a very real feelings that they have for each other and a very real past. We work on it a lot, it’s very important that it’s not just what’s on the page but what’s happening between the lines between the two of us, a look, a touch, want to make sure all of that is there outside of the dialogue.

AE: I think that’s why fans love their relationship, because Kalinda has had other female friends, not girlfriends as she is not a commitment person, but people love your character when she shows up. Why do you think people are so drawn to Kalinda and Lana?

JF: I think it’s the missed connection, the pleasure and pain of the relationship. Other than that I’m just grateful that it’s this chemistry people really enjoy. Like I said, for us it’s everything that’s said between the lines. Instead of having in-between-the-sheets conversation, it’s in-between-the-lines conversation.

AE: I also call this a bisexual love triangle because Cary is involved. What has it been like to work with him and the whole Bishop story line? It almost seems its going to end badly for Kalinda with Archie leaving the show. What can you say about this story line?

JF: I’m curious myself! It’s a little frightening because you never know what’s going to happen. But I love playing cat and mouse, I love that you never really know what’s going to happen, you have no idea what that white card is. It’s interesting because I have this relationship with Archie, its own island, and every once in a while I have interaction with other people. It seems like another reality, like when I’m meeting Alicia, I think, “Who is this woman and what is her relationship with Kalinda?” And then I have Cary who I didn’t take too seriously until he says he has something against me. He said, “Don’t trust this woman.”

AE: Were you shocked this was happening when you got the script?

JF: Yes I was like, “Oh, so these two are together! Alright!” My character comes in with such quick interludes with Kalinda, it’s an interesting discovery for Lana to be like, okay who is this person. Lana knows her relationship with Kalinda but she’s quite aware she’s not the only one. So you never really know what kind of trouble you’ll find yourself in when Kalinda comes asking for a favor.

AE: But Lana seems to want commitment out of Kalinda, and Kalinda is kinda starting to want a commitment with Lana. Do you think there’s hopes for them to be together as girlfriends?

JF: I don’t know. I don’t know how it’s going to unfold. I think that when you look at these two women, to have someone like Lana who is very protective of her private life who isn’t necessarily out professionally and who is becoming more open to who she is, she finally is saying I came out to my parents I’m more comfortable with who I am, and what about you? I think we see Lana admit she has a bit more feelings and desires for Kalinda than she was able to before. The fact that she’s owning who she is and owning more of what she wants, it’s setting the tone for what she needs from Kalinda. She finds herself in a professional tangle as well, what happens with her and the FBI, so I’m not sure how these two women will play things out. Kalinda isn’t the most commitment friendly woman. It remains to be seen.

AE: Do you have plans to film more episodes? Are you open to coming back?

JF: I’m always open to going back but for now I’ve finished filming my three.

AE: Your characters are so different from Good Wife to Night Shift. How much time did you have to prepare between them and what do you love about playing Jordan?

JF: Something about the language of medicine, I don’t know why but it comes naturally to me. My character makes sense, to me. In other characters I’ve played, thinking about their language of protocol, like if it’s an FBI agent, I have to work extra hard to learn the wording. But for the medical field I have a natural fascination with it so it comes easy for me. Jordan and Lana could not be more different. Jordan is very open about her feelings towards TC. Both women are hardworking at what they do, passionate about what they do, and I like to play women like that. Jordan is a doctor who doesn’t see a problem that she can’t fix. She’s not naive about it she just believes she can do it. Whether she fixes someone’s broken leg or is treating her boyfriend’s PTSD, she’s gonna try to do it all. It’s a lot of fun, we just wrapped episode 201, and with TV you’re getting to know your character as the time goes by. Each script is unlocking a new piece of who this person is. So yeah I’m really curious to see what the space is going to hold. I have small idea where the arc is going but there’s always details and nuances that show themselves.

AE: If someone likes your work on The Good Wife, what do you think they’ll enjoy about The Night Shift?

JF: Well, these are two extremely different shows. With The Good Wife everything is more between the lines, and their relationship unfolds a little bit at a time. But with The Night Shift, everything is so fast paced. It becomes a show that you watch because it’s a thrill ride. You’re going from one medical case to the next, its fast paced with all these relationships in-between. We’re dealing with military aspect of it, we’re dealing with so much its such a fast paced show. It’s kinda nuts.

The Good Wife airs Sundays on CBS.

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