NIKITA: Xander Berkeley Talks Percy's Emancipation

Nikita‘s Xander Berkeley teases Percy’s next move and reflects on the challenge of working in a confined space for much of the season.

The following may contain spoilers if you have not watched Nikita “Clean Sweep”

With Percy now a free man following his clean sweep of Amanda’s wits, Berkeley takes us behind his character’s lens and teases his next move:

Well, [..] going rogue is step one. He may seem like “the bad guy” in some people’s minds, but I see him as a very positive thinker. When he wound up in prison, he didn’t waste too much time feeling sorry for himself or getting bitter. He went, “This is good for me. I’ll re-evaluate my life and enjoy the fact that I don’t have pressure, for the first time in a long time, and I’ll enjoy fooling everyone into thinking that, though I’m in prison, I still can call the shots and get them scurrying about.” And, he did. He enjoyed reading and watching TV, and it was a good phase for him. He’s been underground for a long time, so he’ll have a good time, being back out in the world. It’s a bit dangerous, but then so is everything in his life. He’s a thrill-seeker, on that level, and a bit fearless, so he jumps back into being a rogue and finds that mode very refreshing. His next aim is to reclaim power with Division, and then use Division as a means to yet another end, which I’m not quite at liberty to say.

On the challenges of working in the glass box:

I found the outfit a bit challenging because I didn’t feel like it was him. But, he got to bristle within it, and that was him. In a lot of ways, an actor is trained to embrace a challenge ‘cause there’s always gonna be choices and sometimes, if those choices are made for you, it just becomes clearer what the path is that you need to take. And, there’s all the creativity that comes out of trying to use the space in a new way and use the minimalist body behavior to command respect and authority, even though you don’t have any props to rely on. It was a very theatrical setting there and, as an actor, I really enjoyed the spareness of it and the focus that it brought.

Source: Collider

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