LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME: Ainsley Seiger on Jet Settling into the Task Force, Assisting Elliot with the Kathy Mystery

When Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) started looking into his wife’s death, one of the first—new—people he reached out to for assistance was hacker Jet Slootmaekers (Ainsley Seiger), who quickly impressed the veteran detective. And when Stabler’s boss, Sgt. Ayanna Bell (Danielle Moné Truitt), was looking to fill out her newly formed task force, Stabler was quick to suggest his new ally.

Now, Jet is holding her own, whether it’s very clearly pointing out why you can’t call certain kinds of dessert ice cream or taking her skills on the road. And things are about to get a bit more intense: with Elliot now aware his wife was the target in the attack that led to her death, he’ll need Jet’s help more than ever.

So what’s to come? Seiger offered a few teases about Jet’s working relationship with Elliot, the team chemistry, and how SVU’s Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) trip to the task force shakes things up…

Jet essentially uprooted her life to work on this task force. In your mind, what is her take on Elliot, and why was this worth the risk?
Their relationship is so interesting to me, because he does vouch for her, and I think—don’t tell Meloni—he has a certain level of respect for her, professionally. And, weirdly enough, just because of the nature of who Jet is, as a person, I think she actually understands him pretty well. There’s a mutual kind of understanding between the two of them as people. And, personally, it’s been very fun for me to see on on social media everyone was so excited about this father-adopted daughter situation that’s going on between Jet and Elliot. [Laughs.] I love that so much. In their relationship, just because Jet is an adult, and she is independent, he definitely he gives me cool uncle energy, but also at times, Jet definitely turns to him, whether it’s for a look, for comfort or for understanding.

In the first batch of episodes, he was fairly successful at keeping his new work team from his family. Has that line been crossed yet, in what you’ve filmed?
Not yet. Jet hasn’t had the honor of meeting any of his family yet. And if that ever happens, I’d be so down for it. I just met Allison [Siko], the other day, who plays Kathleen. She’s so great. She’s so awesome. So I would absolutely be down for that.

But not yet. I think the moment that he does choose to open up to them a little bit more and share his personal life, his non-work life with them, that will be a pretty special moment.

Elliot was reeling in the final moments of the last episode when he realized Kathy (Isabel Gillies) was actually the target and wasn’t an accidental victim. Jet is someone who could get into old emails, files, and really anything Elliot might need to get some answers about what’s going on. How will she be playing into that reveal?
Jet’s gonna get real involved, real fast. I’m really looking forward to that. Because there is so much she has to offer to the team, and I think we’ve barely even scratched the tip of the iceberg as to what she can do to further this investigation and take down the Wheatleys.

There’s also the big SVU-OC crossover happening. How will Jet be factoring into that?
We’re going to get a lot more Jet doing her computer nerd thing. Something to look forward to is Jet’s evolution with the team, specifically with [detectives] Morales (Michael Rivera) and Washburn (Ben Chase). I love the three of them; I love Morales and Washburn’s partnership. And I love Jet being kind of strange third wheel to this thing that they’ve got going on. And I love working with Michael and Ben so much. But just Jet behind the computer, doing what she knows what she’s best at, and helping the team to the best that she possibly can.

On that note, it’s been teased there might be a mole in the task force. If Jet was to learn one of her new friends was actually working against them, how do you think she might react?
Oh man, the first thing that comes to mind is just that Jet is not someone who I would want holding a grudge against me. I really don’t like to think about what she could possibly do to the ruin someone’s life. Not only over the internet, but physically, I think she’s probably seen her fair share of fisticuffs.

I think that would be really hard for her. Obviously, she’s someone who does not trust super easily, so to have that stripped away—what a blow that would be.

On the flip side, the task force is about to be introduced to Olivia, who was Elliot’s partner for more than a dozen years. What is Jet’s take on Olivia and the dynamic she has with Elliot?
Jet thinks that Benson is just an absolute legend. It’s something that I was playing with during that episode: Benson, in the NYPD, is this icon. This tour de force.

And I’ve been thinking a lot about would Jet know about the brief stint in computer crimes that Benson took in SVU [in season 7]? So I wonder if there’s a little bit of connection there to be had between the two of them. Jet thinks that Benson is so cool; and it’s not hard to think that when she walks on to set looking the way she does. She’s incredible.

Viewers have really seen two different sides of Elliot: at work, he’s held it together, for the most part, and has seemed in control. But he’s been a lot more vulnerable and open with his struggles, whether he intended to be or not, with Olivia. With her there, working with the team, which Elliot is Jet seeing?
It was interesting to look for that, because, despite the fact that he is not the boss of the task force—that he’s a part of it as much as the rest of us, but Sgt. Bell is where the orders come down from and we all know that—it was super fun to watch him and Mariska interact, as people, but then also to see that side of Stabler in the task force, because I think that it was a side that we maybe haven’t seen of him. The side where he’s kind trying to put up a front, for the sake of his professional life.

Looking ahead, you teased there was a Sloot surprise that got cut. Even if it didn’t make what aired, can fans still expect to see it incorporated into the show later?
[Laughs.] It’s definitely being incorporated into later episodes. It’s interesting, because after I watched the episode, I kind of sat there, on the couch with my friends, and I was like, “I wonder if maybe I built this up into something way more dramatic than it actually is.” [Laughs.] The fear of the disappointment of that was super real in that moment. But it definitely will be incorporated, it’ll be included and I look forward to the surprise of that, also. The moment everyone goes, “Oh! Hang on.”

Speaking of the fans, you’ve already gotten so much incredible fan art, etc. What has that experience been like, especially since the spinoff is still so new?
It’s almost funnier to see the way that my friends react to it, because my friends will find things too, and they’ll send them to me, like, “Oh my God, did you see this? Did you see what someone did?” I’m like [joking], “That was hours ago—I’ve been there.” I’ve been pretty heavy on on social media. It is really, really insane to see the way that people have been reacting, and people’s reception to Jet as a character. And my only response is I want to say, “Keep it going. Don’t let the steam run out now—we got to keep going heavy!”

I’ve been so grateful to see that. And it means the world to me as a performer, especially this being my first job. I was incredibly nervous for that reason. And then also nervous, because [SVU] has such a dedicated fan base. So I was really nervous for that part of it and it’s been amazing to see people react the way that they have.

LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME, Thursdays, 10/9c, NBC

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