One Tree Hill, The Boys, For All Mankind… Shantel VanSanten has a career actors dream of, taking roles that span decades, genres and personalities. But the 38-year-old was looking for "something different," and she has found it with FBI: Most Wanted.
Shantel appeared in 15 episodes across season four and five of FBI, falling in love with Stuart Scola (played by John Boyd,) and welcoming their son Douglas at the end of season five. But after the news broke that Alexa Devalos as Kristen Gaines would not be returning to Most Wanted, it was revealed that Shantel would take over the open spot, giving Nina her own team to work alongside – and offering the showrunners the opportunity for more mini crossovers.
"Nina offered me the opportunity to play a very headstrong woman that didn't have ties to any man and I was excited to play that," Shantel tells HELLO! of her initial draw to the character, a recurring role before becoming a full-time character on the spin-off with Dylan McDermott. But that initial draw has now changed, with Nina very much having ties to a man and a newborn baby.
How will Nina balance the act of being a new mom and a field agent? "I don't think it's changed her passion or her drive – she's joined a more intense fugitive task force that requires her to work harder," quips Shantel, who has also made it her mission to advocate for the American Lung Association after the heartbreaking passing of her grandmother who helped to raise the actress.
Despite Nina's passion though, any working mom knows it's not always as easy as hoped, and episode one will open up a whole host of new questions as Nina returns to work so quickly after welcoming her son, while viewers will also see her go head-to-head with Dylan's Remy, and new tensions emerge in the team after Kristen Gaines' departure.
How did the move to Most Wanted come about?
Rick Eid, the FBI showrunner, wrote such a beautiful, complicated story for Nina's pregnancy, from it being unplanned to the conversations that had to happen about what she wanted for her life, and giving her the space to explore it, and I loved that.
But I still didn't know where any of it was going, and during the finale it was brought up to me that they were wanting me at Most Wanted. When I was shooting the FBI season five finale, and the scene where Nina is laying in the bed crying, we played it really obscure because I didn't know if she would be keeping the baby or not; it was going to be decided by whether I was going to take the offer for Most Wanted or not, and they didn't want me to start the show having lost a baby and in that place mentally.
Plus they really wanted the opportunity for these mini crossovers between FBI and Most Wanted, to tie in the characters on the show. We all felt pretty confident [the contracts would be signed] and so the script showed that Nina kept the baby.
Yet it was a fun collaboration to think about it both ways – what would it mean for Scola's character moving forward if Nina lost the baby? And it was fun to peek into the two different showrunners' heads, see what they were wanting for their show, and so that was how it all came about in a very long way.
What are the differences between the two shows?
Everyone told me Most Wanted would be a very different show, and it is more than just a few extra cuss words. The crimes are way more intense and it requires a different physicality – the takedowns are more intense, the criminals are way more crazy.
Were you prepared for the physical challenges that Most Wanted would require?
I have trained with special forces so I knew what it would require of me, but I'd never had the chance to play that type of role and show the sacrifice that they make every single day, putting their lives on the line.
What do you love about Nina?
I was coming off of playing Karen Baldwin on For All Mankind, an incredible opportunity to play a woman over the span of 30 years and to be a part of such a creative, very intense show. But I was searching for something different; I had played the mother, the wife, and Nina offered me that something different.
Nina also offered me the opportunity to play a very headstrong woman that didn't have ties to any man and I was excited to play that.
Nina is a mother now, how has your perspective of the character changed?
I've played moms a lot, but I like the evolution and the complexity of Nina's life, from getting pregnant and choosing to have a child, to the type of relationship that she and Scola have. I want to tell a story about a mom in a different way, because I don't think it's changed her passion or her drive – she's joined a more intense fugitive task force that requires her to work harder!
I haven't had the opportunity in life yet to be a mother but I have a lot of friends who tell me the real deal and I've collectively taken the voices of the moms and put them in Nina.
Remy and Nina are two very strong characters, can we expect tensions?
The dynamics of a team are always shifting and changing. People are going to make mistakes and celebrate the victories together and butt heads and have challenges, but as long as you communicate respectfully, that's how you grow and learn to trust one another and to understand one another.
But, I don't think that every agent is everyone's cup of tea. The minute you step foot on a case, you're going to be respectful and have each other's backs, but you're not always going to have BFF bracelets across the board.
That tension allows us to get a window into understanding somebody that's different, and it's important for us to see on television, that people can come from different walks of life but merge on an even playing field and can build respect and trust.
You've been advocating for the American Lung Association’s Lung Force initiative, why has this been so important to you?
My mom was a very young mother and my grandmother helped raise me. She was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, and I lived in a hospice with her. It was really brutal to watch and afterwards, I didn't know what to do with my broken heart other than to take her fighting spirit and try to make a difference.
This year marks 10 years of fundraising with the American Lung Association, and I've been going to Capitol Hill and asking for more research funding [for better early detection, treatments and cures] with cancer survivors and patients and families, and really immersing myself in the advocacy of what is the number one cancer killer in America – more than breast, ovarian and prostate combined.
We found out after she passed away that my grandmother had Radon. [Radon is a naturally-occurring radioactive gas which we breathe in. These particles are deposited on the cells lining the airways, where they can damage DNA and potentially cause cancer.] You can't see it, can't smell it, but you can test for it and so we climb and we walk and share stories and we've raised over $250,000 in the last 10 years – and the survival rate for lung cancer patients has gone up by 50% in the same time.
It's reason I keep fighting is because if I see progress, I have even more hope and feel ignited in carrying my grandmother's spirit.