The series stars Maggie Q
as Nikita, a spy and assassin who has gone rogue. She is now working to
bring down Division, the secret government agency that recruited her.
Meanwhile, Division trains its next crop of young killers.[2]
The story centers on a secret organization known as Division.
Targeting young people from a troubled background, Division erases all
evidence of their past lives and molds them into efficient spies and
assassins.[3] Nikita is the first recruit to escape and promises to bring down her former employers.[3]
Having trained Nikita, Michael, a Division operative, is ordered by his
boss Percy to deal with his former student. In the meantime, Division
continues training its recruits, Thom, Jaden, and the newest, Alex.[3]
Maggie Q
as Nikita, a spy and assassin who has turned rogue after being trained
by Division. As a teenager, she was a troubled street kid who wound up
on death row.[4] Division faked Nikita's execution and recruited her, leading her to believe she could have a second chance serving her country.[4]
After being betrayed, Nikita escaped and went into hiding, re-emerging
as a rogue agent determined to bring down Division and free the other
recruits.[4] Maggie Q performs her own stunts.[5]
Shane West
as Michael, a Division operative who trained Nikita. Michael was
recruited by Division after his wife and daughter were killed, and Percy
promised him he would get his revenge.[6]
West says, "Michael's not inherently a bad guy, at all. He's doing some
things that I think he started off believing in, and now he's a little
unsure."[6] Michael sees Division and its recruits as a kind of "family" to him.[6]
Lyndsy Fonseca as Alex, a new recruit at Division.[7]
She is a former street kid arrested after a robbery. Unknown to
Division, Alex is a mole that Nikita is using to destroy Division from
the inside.[8]
Aaron Stanford as Birkhoff, a computer genius recruited at the same time as Nikita.[3] As a college student, he was caught hacking into the Pentagon's system.[3]
Ashton Holmes
as Thom, another assassin who was recruited two years after Nikita left
and a year prior to Alex. He is determined to prove himself at
Division, and has recently graduated and become a field agent.[3]
Tiffany Hines as Jaden. Recruited two months before Alex, Jaden embraces her new life.[9]
Although having similar backgrounds as former street kids, she becomes
resentful of Alex, feeling the latest addition is stealing her thunder.[9]
Melinda Clarke as Amanda, a Division psychologist and master manipulator.[10]
Xander Berkeley as Percy, the ruthless head of Division. He will stop at nothing to destroy Nikita and protect his empire.[3]
The CW had long been interested in an action-adventure series centered on a strong female character.[5] On January 27, 2010, The CW ordered a pilot episode of Nikita.[11] In February, Maggie Q was cast as Nikita, with Shane West as Michael.[12][13] In March, Lyndsy Fonseca was given the role of Alex.[14] On May 18, 2010, Nikita was officially ordered to series for a fall premiere.[15] The 2010 television series is more closely tied to Luc Besson's 1990 French film Nikita than the 1997 television series, La Femme Nikita.[16] However the series does borrow many characters, or at least character names, from the previous television series.
Executive producer Craig Silverstein was approached by Warner Bros. who owned the rights.[17]
Silverstein said, "My first thought was I love Nikita. My second
thought was, 'it's been done.' Could it be done fresh? Could we have a
take where you didn't know where this story would end?"[17]
As a result, two major changes have been made, one of which is the
decision to have the story take place after Nikita has escaped. Maggie Q
stated, "No one's told her story after the fact. No one knows where she
is going."[18] In addition, a new character, Alex, was introduced who has an unexpected backstory.[19]
The series will be a mix of a weekly mission/counter-mission, and a
story arc running through the first season that explores Nikita's
relationships with Alex and Michael.[19]
Silverstein describes the story as a "dark fairytale. This girl is
taken from one life, her identity is erased, she's put in another life
and she's transformed. It's like Alice in Wonderland. She's told,
"Eat this, drink that, steal this, kill that," and she's not told why.
And, she begins to find her own identity through that."[20]
On October 12, 2010, Entertainment Weekly
announced that the series would receive some tweaking to attract more
of a female audience. Among the tweaks, is a new character and potential
love interest for Nikita. However, the network has promised the core of the show will remain the same.[21]
On October 22, 2010, the show was picked up for a full-season, which will total at 22 episodes.[22][23] The CW have admitted they took gambles this year but said they were "thrilled that [it] paid off for us."[24]
On July 26, 2010, Living secured the rights to air Nikita in the United Kingdom and as the centrepiece of the channel's autumn schedule, the show premiered on Thursday 7 October at 9pm.[25]
As of July 9, 2010, Metacritic reports that most early reviews of the pilot place the series in the "Has Potential" category. Comparisons were made to Joss Whedon's Dollhouse.
Critics had praise for Maggie Q in the lead role, the look of the show,
solid action sequences, and an intriguing twist at the end, but note
that the dialogue needs some humor.[26]
The pilot episode drew 3.57 million viewers on its initial broadcast.[27]The CW broadcast repeats of both Hellcats and Nikita on September 10, 2010, the latter of which drew approximately 2.6 million viewers.[28]
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