‘CIA’s Nick Gehlfuss Talks Bill Holding Vincente Captive, Killing His Father’s Old Partner (Exclusive)

CIA shows a completely different side to Bill Goodman (Nick Gehlfuss) in the latest episode. He continues to dig into hitman Felix Vincente (Sasha Roiz), an investigation that results in him killing one person and nearly shooting another. TV Insider spoke with Gehlfuss about Bill’s dark turn. Warning: Spoilers for CIA Season 2 Episode 6 ahead!

When Vincente strikes again, Bill goes to see his father’s old partner, only to have to kill him when the other man pulls his gun on him; it turns out he’s been helping the hitman all these years. Then, Colin (Tom Ellis) blows their cover when Toni (Angela Sarafyan) goes undercover as another person on Vincente’s network, but the CIA officer sees a red laser dot on her. As a result, Bill then chases Vincente through a train and onto a platform, with the hitman even holding the FBI agent’s head close to the edge as a train approaches.

At the end of the chase, Vincente is in Bill and Colin’s custody … but only theirs, in a place off the grid when the FBI agent tells his partner it’s the only way he’ll get the answers he needs; he knows he won’t if they turn him in.

Mark Schafer/CBS

Vincente can tell Bill wants to know the kind of man his father was and says he loved him just like he did. When Bill asks if he killed him, like he’d been told, Vincente doesn’t give him an answer. And so, after Colin interrupts and insists that what he’d have to do to make him talk would mean crossing a line he can’t come back from, and Bill seemingly agrees to stop and turn him over to the FBI, where he’ll be safer, is it any surprise that the episode ends with Vincente decidedly not in official custody? Rather, Bill has him tied up in an unknown location. “No one knows you’re here. Now, you’re going to tell me what I want to know or you’re never getting out of this room alive,” Bill warns him. Uh-oh!

Below, Nick Gehlfuss breaks down Bill going dark.

This episode is by far the one where we’re seeing how much Bill’s time with the fusion cell has changed him, at least until the next one, it seems, based on the ending. Does Bill realize that yet? How much he’s changed?

Nick Gehlfuss: No. I think he’s so wrapped up in an identity crisis and a secret investigation on top of his CIA work and FBI — let’s not forget that he is the FBI liaison to the CIA. He still works for the FBI. So he’s got those two plates full. He’s got this secret investigation into his father, into who he was, and how it affects who Bill is. And of course, what we’ve learned from Episode 5 is that maybe his father could have been murdered. Guram Dadiani, that prisoner, informs Bill that his father’s time in the CIA was much darker than Bill had thought, or maybe just confirms some of those doubts, dealing with the kids turned assassins. And we now find that the man who got away from Bill, Felix Vincente, was his father’s favorite student and that Felix Vincente swore to kill his father.

So Bill, carrying the surname Goodman, was his father a good man? If he wasn’t, is Bill a good man? What does that mean for Bill? Bill’s questioning everything. His foundation is just shook. Bill has an insatiable desire for the truth. Jubal [FBI‘s Jeremy Sisto] says it when he pitches him to Nikki [Necar Zadegan] in Episode 1 Season 1; he’s a grinder. He will work a case until he makes sense of it, no matter how complex. This is the most complex investigation of Bill’s life because it has to do with his life. And so I am so proud of this episode. I’m really excited for the audience to see it. I’m excited to see it. I haven’t even seen it yet.

It’s so good.

I know personally as an actor — thanks. I’ve heard it, and I’m really glad to hear that. And I know that what I put into it… Well, look, it’s great writing. I’m so thankful for the storyline. This spans 10 episodes, right? I’m thankful that we as a show, are able to deal with these types of character arcs. And so this one, purely as an actor, technically it took the most out of me. I was so wiped after this one emotionally and physically, because there’s a lot of stunts and just the emotional level… Bill’s going through it. As an actor, you make sense in your mind of why you’re going all these emotional places, but your body doesn’t know what… It just thinks you’re in a dark spiral. And so at the end of the day, it’s good to have these self-care techniques for actors, which I meditate. That’s my biggest thing. But I’m so proud of this one. And yeah, if audiences are wondering if the buttoned-up, clean-shaven, clean-cut, by-the-book Bill is going to turn, this is the episode.

Yeah, because at the end we see Bill keeping Vincente in this undisclosed location, which explains why he seemingly gave into Colin as quickly as he did about not going as far as he need to get answers.

And he lied to his partner!

Mark Schafer/CBS

Yeah, he lied to his partner, especially because his partner came to him immediately when he found out about his dad, too. But also the fact that Bill is willing to keep Vincente in this location; he 100% believes this guy killed his father, right? Because otherwise, I don’t see him doing this.

Well, he 100%… He doesn’t know if he… He knows that Vincente is the only person left who can give him answers to the questions. Will he get those answers? Is the big question. “Legacy,” aptly titled the episode, after you see it, you know that he doesn’t get the answers yet, and the rest of this arc will prove whether he does or not. We’re currently on Episode 10 filming, and it is the culmination of the whole arc, and it’s another fantastic episode, by the way. Just the writers, I have to thank them, and I do always.

It’s just the circumstances of Bill coming back to the second season with his father already having passed is…a lot of actors need a springboard into a scene and talk about a springboard into a season coming back with that. And then, of course, it’s the perfect obstacle for Bill not being able to get the answers he needs, feeling betrayed and lied to by his father. And then also realizing he’s lying. He cannot come down too hard on his father because he’d be called a hypocrite. But then, lo and behold, he changes the circle and doesn’t want to repeat what his father did to him, and he tells his fiancée. And of course he’s in the doghouse. He’s sleeping on the couch. We haven’t seen Katie and Bill in a while, and there’s a reason for that. And also, I think Bill doesn’t have time for anything else other than this mission he’s on. And it’s wonderful. It’s so juicy.

And the thing that really struck me in these 10 episodes so far is the idea… What we think a partnership is, especially in law enforcement, is that a partner protects their partner from others. But what is really at play here is a partner protecting their partner from themselves. And of course, that only works if the partner lets him. And certainly, Bill is not letting Colin do that.

No. Then, at the end of Episode 6, we see Bill tell Vincente that if he doesn’t tell him what he wants to know, he’s never getting out of the room alive. So how far is Bill willing to go versus how far does he want Vincente to think he’s willing to go? Does Bill think he has it in him to actually do what’s needed? Or is he kind of hoping, “I can intimidate this guy enough that I don’t have to”?

I think it’s a bit of bluffing. I don’t think Bill wants to have to do what he’s saying he would do, but he knows how to interrogate. I mean, he’s trained as well, maybe not to the level of Colin. But Vincente is highly trained as well in manipulation, and he knows what he can hold over Bill, and he does.

Bill is definitely keeping this from Colin. You will see him keep this from his partner and keep it from everyone he works with, even the FBI. Bill now has a secret that nobody else knows about for the first time, because in Season 1, he shared a secret with Jubal going in about this mole but then found out that Colin’s on the same [path]. This is the first time we see Colin and Bill completely divided because Bill feels Colin is potentially getting in the way of what he needs and is desperate to have.

How dark is Bill going to be getting in Episode 7? What can you say about the Bill and Vincente scenes in that room going forward?

You will see Bill go places he’s never been, and you will see Bill break in ways you’ve never seen him. And it’s a really great storyline. And now, knowing how it ends, it’s satisfying; it’s substantial. I think audiences are going to be really, really happy with the way this entire story plays out.

During that fight on the subway platform, Bill seemed to come close to death, and it’s all because of this obsession of his that he needs to stop Vincente. So where is his head, though, when it comes to how much he’s willing to risk of himself and potentially risk his own life and things like that to get answers? Is that even registering for him?

No, I don’t think he is. I think he’s feral. I think he’s just on a mission and nothing or no one is going to stop him, and that’s clear. By the end of Episode 6, he makes that extremely clear. I think Bill is in, like I said, an identity crisis and it’s chaos, and he doesn’t understand reason at this point, even though he’s a man of reason. He could see somebody else, let’s just say, going through this and tell them what he should be telling himself, but he’s too deep into it. I think it also feels like it’s at his fingertips, and it’s so near his grasp or so he thinks.

I mean, the subway sequence is so iconic, New York. It was so fun to play. You think about a lot of moments in movies and TV and film where they show train sequences, and it turned out well? Was it fun?

It was good, yeah.

I haven’t seen any. It’s a crazy moment where Vincent is going to kill Bill. And Bill is, at this point, I think Bill, let’s just say, he’s going to need a little bit of some psychoanalysis after this entire thing. I think he’s going to question everything, and I think he’s going to understand and realize that at what cost is all this worth it? I think the questions you’re asking, as far as what he’s aware of, he’s not there at this point, but he does get there.

And it seems like he needs Colin, though at this point, but he’s creating this distance with him because he’s not telling him things, and this is just as their partnership was really doing well. So what does that mean for what we do see between them? Is Colin picking up on things? Because also the fact that Bill is lying to these people who pick up on things like this for a living –

Of course, they’re expert liars?

Yeah.

It can only last so long. No, it’s dangerous. No, no, for sure. And it can’t play out that long, and it won’t, don’t worry. But you’re right. At this point, Bill needs a partner more than anything, and he’s just separated himself from potentially a lifeline.

Before Colin came up, Bill had the gun on Vincente, but he also knew he needed him alive to get answers. But at the same time, because of this rage in him, do you think Bill could have pulled the trigger if Colin hadn’t shown up?

Potentially. Potentially. Although I think that was an adrenaline-ridden moment. The guy just tried to kill him multiple times. Let’s not forget that Vincente tried to kill Colin at the cemetery and then tried to kill me as he was fleeing, and then he dives off the bridge. So what we have going here is this is a guy that got away — just a guy that got away; it could start there, and Bill’s determined to catch him, right? But now there’s so much jealousy about the fact of, did his father love Vincente more than Bill? It’s so warped, and you can understand why Bill would be spiraling and going down a rabbit hole here. It’s really well justified by the writers, and all of it is so motivated perfectly.

He’s tried to kill his partner; he’s tried to kill him on multiple fronts, so the adrenaline there, I think that Colin showed up at a great time. I think Bill would’ve regretted killing him if he did, and that wouldn’t… Although I think that Bill might’ve… I don’t know. The answer is I don’t know. I don’t know if Colin didn’t show up, what would’ve happened? Because I lean on my tech advisor a great deal with this. He was an FBI agent; his name’s Mike Matera. When you get wrapped up in that type of adrenaline rush, and you’re fighting for your life, I mean, clearly Bill has the upper hand there. He’s got the power, right? He’s initiated power again, but there’s so much bubbling. His blood is boiling. It makes you realize how a human could potentially do something they would regret.

And then on a lighter note, because Roland Buck III just was on FBI, are there any of your former Med co-stars you’d like to have on CIA?

[Laughs] Oh yeah, I did hear about Roland over on FBI. He was a new partner for Missy’s character, right? That’s cool. I haven’t seen any of that. Oh, well, I mean, probably Dr. Charles [Oliver Platt] should come on over and talk to Bill, don’t you think?

Yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That would be good. Yeah, no, that’s probably the best option to motivate a crossover. It also would be amazing to have a cross-network crossover.

It’s been done, because Tracy Spiridakos (Chicago P.D.) went over to FBI.

Oh, that’s right.

Olivia (Michelle Forbes) is now the boss at the fusion cell, and she’s looking into Bill. What’s Bill’s take on her?

In Episode 6, he lies straight to her face because he knows she’s involved in all of this, and he knows that she wants Vincente dead. So Olivia has now become, not an enemy, but someone that Bill can’t put any trust in, and is now a ticking time clock on when her and her team is going to track down Vincente and finish what they thought they finished. And then of course, Nikki’s wanting to be a part of all of this, and Bill and Colin both say yes.

Mark Schafer/CBS

I have to say, this arc is so intriguing.

Yeah. Oh, totally. It was the perfect circumstances for [Episode] 6, where Bill gets the opportunity where his secret investigation collides with CIA work, and it’s like Bill, I’m sure, is thinking that as an omen, oh, perfect. So he goes and also enlists the help of his dad’s friend, Carl.

And then shoots him.

I mean, Bill is justified in all of his kills, which he ends up… I mean, throughout all of this, some people are at… I was told by the FBI tech advisor, every time you kill someone in the line of duty, a psychologist sits you down and talks with you. And Bill, it’s clear that a lot is going on. It’s going to weigh on him. I mean, killing his father’s partner, because he realized his partner was dirty, only reiterates what he thinks his dad was capable of doing as well or has done. Also, Bill’s feeling like he’s questioning if he’s a psychopath himself. He said it to Katie, ” That’s what I’m afraid of. Because it’s one thing to find that out about your father and then start making sense of, “Well, I’m here. I passed up a promotion for a life I thought I wanted. My father’s my hero, and I didn’t even know who he was. I knew what he taught me, but was that all a load of BS?”

Poor Bill.

Poor Bill.

CIA, Mondays, 9/8c, CBS