For three consecutive years, Warner Brothers has kicked off Comic Con’s Preview Night with highly anticipated screenings of its new programs. In the past, they’ve screened shows such as Fringe and The Vampire Diaries. This year, The CW’s newest fall series, Nikita, was premiered.
A re-imagining of the 1990’s series, La Femme Nikita, the new CW show stars Maggie Q in the title role of the betrayed female assassin. Shane West, Lyndsy Fonseca, Xander Berkley and Melinda Clarke round out the cast.
Nikita was a young girl who ended up on the wrong side of the law. Plucked from a prison cell, she was given the opportunity to “serve her country” by killing for a mysterious government agency known as Division. Years later, she escaped after Division betrayed her. Now, she’s working to tear down her former employer. West, Berkley and Clarke play various members of the Division agency, who are hell bent on taking Nikita down before she can expose or destroy them. Fonseca plays a young girl recruited by the agency, much like Nikita was before her.
Nikita isn’t your typical CW show. While it’s full of attractive young people, it has more of the action that is featured on shows such as Smallville or Supernatural, and less of the teen angst on shows such as 90210 and Gossip Girl. It’s a show that will likely appeal to the older audience of the network. There’s no doubt that the success of the show rests on the shoulders of Maggie Q in the title role. She’s the heart of the series, as well as the heroine. Fortunately, she delivers. She nimbly navigates her way from betrayal to humor to badassery. And, according to Michael (a male writer for TVOvermind who attended the screening with me), she’s not so bad on the eyes either.
Unsurprisingly, viewers will find Division headquarters to be colored in shades of blue in grey, like 24 or other spy shows. But the production values of the show are high.
We’re curious how the rest of the season will play out. It’s clear that the storyline of the show will play out with Nikita attempting to sabotage many of Division’s missions and attempt to take them down. What’s not clear is whether the show will offer up a lot of stand-alone episodes while still building on the overarching Nikita storyline. We’re also curious as to whether we’ll get an opportunity to explore the backstory of Nikita and the other Division characters.
Overall, it’s difficult to predict whether this show will be another breakout hit for the CW as The Vampire Diaries was in its freshman year, but we’re hopeful and excited to see Nikita punch and kick her way through another episode.
Nikita premieres on September 9 at 9:00 p.m. on The CW. Stay tuned for more news coming out of Comic Con 2010!
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