Eric Christian Olsen Says Goodbye to ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ With a Haircut
“I’m going to cut it short,” Eric Christian Olsen tells Parade of his long, blond locks.
The series finale of NCIS: Los Angeles will be a two-parter, airing May 14 and 21, but production has already wrapped and the series finale party, celebrating 14 seasons of the drama, was held on the Paramount Studios lot, where the show filmed.
Parade was on hand to speak to the cast at the outdoor bash, including Eric Christian Olsen, who was already sporting a new look, a slightly shorter haircut than he’s been able to wear since signing on to his role as Marty Deeks 13 years ago. Deeks, of course, is famous for his long, blond, tousled locks.
Apparently, there’s many things that Olsen is going to miss about NCIS: Los Angeles, especially the cast and crew, but long hair isn’t one of them, and he is ready to break out the scissors!
“Yes, I’m going to cut it. I’m going to cut it short,” he tells Parade. “Have you seen the last six months? It’s gotten shorter and shorter and shorter. I know fans are very emotionally invested in that hair, but I’m going to cut it.
Possibly one of the reasons he needs a shorter ‘do is for his new position as one of the executive producers on the CBS reboot of Matlock, which will do a gender switch and star Kathy Bates in the title role.
“I’m leaving for Toronto to produce that for CBS,” he told us, but added he isn’t sure if he will write any of the episodes like he did for NCIS: Los Angeles.
“Our writer is this unbelievable writer named Jennie Snyder Urman, who created Jane the Virgin, and she’s incredible,” he says. “I don’t think that I have the skill set to do that. I really wanted to do that experience because when you’re working with writers it’s hard to say we need to implement X, Y, and Z if you’ve never done it, so you’ve got to sit down with an empty page and say, ‘I’ve got to tell a story.’ I did the first one, ‘Mother,’ with a writing partner. And then I did ‘To Live Free or D*e Standing’ by myself. That process was amazing, but I don’t know if I’ll continue to write.”
The new version of Matlock on which he serves as EP will see brilliant septuagenarian Madeline Matlock (Bates) rejoin the work force at a prestigious law firm where she uses her unassuming demeanor and wily tactics to win cases and expose corruption from within.
She will be joined by Jason Ritter, Skye P. Marshall, David Del Rio and Leah Lewis.
Olsen will not be acting in the series, in fact, he hasn’t announced his next project in front of the camera, but he does have several other projects lined up to produce.
Olsen’s production company Cloud Nine sold four projects to CBS, two comedies and two dramas: Family Insurance, a single-camera Latinx family workplace comedy; Mixed Signals, a single-camera romantic comedy; the crime drama Peculiar; and an untitled legal drama.
