How Has Being on ‘Countdown’s Task Force Changed Bell?

We know that Bell (Elliot Knight) has one goal — director of the FBI — but the entire task force will have the same one after Countdown‘s Season 1 finale: Find Oliveras (Jessica Camacho).

The finale ended with the sniper the team is after, Todd (Grant Harvey), kidnapping her and telling her to run across a field … and we really hope he doesn’t shoot her in the back. The rest of the task force, meanwhile, is learning more about said sniper (like he’s FBI, but not the agent they thought). Below, Elliot Knight discusses the mystery of Todd and how Bell’s time on the task force has changed him, shares his hopes for a second season, and more.

What is Bell’s take on Todd at this point?

Elliot Knight: I don’t know that Bell has that much to go on, to be honest. He’s always case-focused, and I think it’s important to always keep a clear head and a clear mind with that and not come to any solid conclusions too early. So I think that smartly, Bell just has his eyes on the prize of solving the case and knowing that anyone could be involved in any way. I think he’s learning, if he hasn’t already, that surprises could be waiting around every corner, and a surprise in itself should not be a surprise to him if he’s doing his job. And yeah, he definitely fits in that category.

And I think that aspect of Bell is going to be needed going forward because now that Todd has Oliveras, we know that Meachum (Jensen Ackles) is going to go off the rails. Bell might be needed to rein him in.

Yeah, I mean, there’s every chance that we are going to feel a lot more of the connections and the fire that can be ignited because of the chemistry of this task force. We’re seeing it in different ways building already, and I don’t know how Bell will fit into that or how he might not, but it’s definitely going to be an interesting thing to see how it plays out.

Elizabeth Morris / Prime

So you’ve been talking about Bell’s ultimate goal, director of the FBI, but has working on the task force changed that at all for him because he’s now seeing this other side of the job?

Yes, that’s a great question. I do think that the time on the task force has illuminated a broader scope of how this job can be done than how Bell has typically focused on it. I think he’s traditionally very by the book federal agent committed to the cause who wants to do things right and is not interested in bending the rules to suit him in any way. That doesn’t help improve himself and his ability to do the job well. But as he gets closer to this team, sees their ability to perform and succeed, but also some of the strategies that do involve bending the rules a little and they do involve not being as straight and narrow, I do think that that has an impact on how he feels, not about achieving his goal, but how he might get there. It’s possibly going to involve more than he’s maybe prepared for or not. I don’t know how that’s going to play out, but it’s definitely going to make that journey a lot more surprising and a lot less of a guarantee that it’s going to be smooth.

And there’s also the fact that if he’s seeing that he enjoys being in the field, that’s a desk job, he may not want that as soon as he thought he might.

100%. I think if anyone told him he’s going to be stuck at a desk, he would hate that. And I would say as Elliot, I would not be a huge fan of that, either. [Laughs] I definitely share the passion of wanting to be out there getting things done and being a part of the action, but some things are larger than just the enjoyment of the moment. I think that would be such an achievement — it would be more than just what his experience was in the job. It would be about what that means and empowers outside of himself the same way, honestly, that I feel about any roles that I get to do as an actor and including this one. It’s not just about what my experience is making it, which has been amazing honestly. But it’s also about what this could empower outside of my own experience. And I do feel like Bell has a similar value system. He will see the brightness of the torch that he can ignite if he reaches that height in his field of work. And that doesn’t burn just for his own warmth. It burns for everybody else to see from whatever distance.

And also, Bell is the type of person who does consider that.

Exactly, yeah, he would. He cares about what he does, and even though he’s there to prove himself, he’s not in the job because it’s self-serving. It’s the literal opposite. It’s about serving your community, your people, it’s the people around you. I think if he was more selfishly inclined, this would not be the line of work that he would be a part of. There are many other things he could be doing. And also, he has a legacy to uphold. And I do think that there’s either a drive or pressure or both there to not drop the baton. He has to keep this going. And if there’s a way to make his ancestors and his father and grandfather before him proud, that is the most obvious way that he can do that. And so I don’t think that that goal is going to disappear anytime soon.

There needs to be a second season after that ending.

[Laughs] Agreed.

Assuming there is, what would you like to explore with Bell both on and off the job?

I am really intrigued to learn more about Bell as a person. I think there’s a very strong sense of his identity at work, but as we see with all the other characters, the cracks are underneath the surface, and they’re the most interesting parts of the people. Bell seems relatively to have very few cracks or close to none, but obviously, the truth of that is going to be different. So I would love to see him a bit more raw and exposed and also to see what some of his challenges and weaknesses are and see him struggle with something that’s very personal to him that isn’t work adjacent. That’s one of my favorite things about the show, and I think what makes it different from other shows in this genre, is we are really exploring the full complexities and humanities of these characters. It’s the fun, it’s the jokes, it’s the camaraderie, it’s also the darkness and the secrets and how they all combine into one. I want to see more colors of Bell’s rainbow, I’ll put it that way.

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