FBI: Most Wanted fans may have noticed during the season five premiere on February 13 that although newcomer Nina Chase was keen to get stuck in and become part of the team, she was reluctant to share details of her home life, and her new baby boy, Douglas.
But as star Shantel VanSantan admits, that is "intentional".
"We get to dive into it more in this season and so I don't want to tease too much other than to say that the intentional part is deeper than just needing to build trust with these people and show she is capable," Shantel tells HELLO!
"The most important thing is not the personal life but building trust – and we kind of see that in the conversation that she has with Remy."
"But we do get to see this season more of Nina being a mother, and what that entails and how she feels about it," Shantel continues. "I'm really excited to share that part of her story."
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 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 revealed of her initial draw to the character.
But with Nina very much now having ties to a man and a newborn baby, Shantel admits that she doesn't believe "it's changed her passion or her drive – she's joined a more intense fugitive task force that requires her to work harder!"
Shantel, 38, is known for her work on One Tree Hill and For All Mankind, which she left at the end of season three after 30 episodes that spanned 30 years. That creative work helped her to make the decision to take on a network drama that was a completely different genre.
"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," she says.
"I want to tell a story about a mom in a different way…. 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."