Alana De La Garza on Her SCORPION Arc, CRIMINAL MINDS: BEYOND BORDERS Gig, and Saying Goodbye to FOREVER

Alana De La Garza is having a busy, busy year.

De La Garza spent the first part of the year working on the charming ABC procedural, FOREVER, playing Jo Martinez, a New York cop who worked with Henry Morgan, a secretly immortal medical examiner.

When ABC opted to not order a second season of FOREVER, De La Garza was quickly recruited for an arc on the sophomore season of SCORPION, where she’s playing Adriana Molina, the new Director of Homeland Security. But those plans evolved when De La Garza landed a series regular gig on the CRIMINAL MINDS spinoff, CRIMINAL MINDS: BEYOND BORDERS.

I spoke with De La Garza about her “bittersweet” FOREVER goodbye, the “fun dynamic” she gets to play on SCORPION, and the intense training she’s undertaking for BEYOND BORDERS…

What can you say about your role on SCORPION?
Alana De La Garza: I play Adriana Molina, and she’s the head of Homeland Security. She’s smart and wants to get things done as quickly as possible…she wants to protect the team, and she’s got a bit of ambition. And the team doesn’t know if that ambition is for [them or her]. It’s really a fun dynamic to play. And now because I’m doing BEYOND BORDERS, it’s not going to be able to continue where it was going to, which is unfortunate.

What is the dynamic like with the Scorpion team?
ADLG: You know what’s kind of cool? Her and Cabe have this respect for each other, and they sort of bond for a second. You’ll see something happen that makes them all question her political [ambitions] and what she thinks is better.

Is there someone outside of Cabe she particularly bonds with?
ADLG: It’s Cabe, which is really cool. I think she’s strong, and smart, and dynamic and strict. I think they’re kind of taken aback by that, and impressed by that, in a way.

When you were filming SCORPION, did you get to see Gene Simmons filming his guest spot?
ADLG: No, I just missed him! I was so bummed.

Aw, that’s unfortunate. Well, looking to your new full-time gig, what can you say about CRIMINAL MINDS: BEYOND BORDERS?
ADLG: BEYOND BORDERS is so much fun. It’s going to be such a fun ride for the audience. You have that procedural element, and you also get to know them personally on different levels. You go to different countries. I play Clara, who is an anthropologist, but she’s also a linguist. I speak a different language every episode. The first one was Thai.

How are you prepping for speaking those different languages?
ADLG: I had a tutor who was incredible. And I took two, three-hour classes with him. We went through it!

Are you having a different tutor per episode, or are they trying to find tutors who speak multiple languages so you can have as little turnover as possible?
ADLG: It’s different. Because nobody actually speaks all of these languages.

So far, it’s been really fun. It’s been really challenging, and at the beginning, my first hour in, I thought, “Oh my gosh, how am I going to pull this off and not let people down?” And then as you go, I was like, “I actually know how to say it.” I [knew], “I just said that wrong or I just said that right.” I know we’re going to Japan, Mexico, France.

Is anyone else in the cast having to undergo similar training for their on-screen skill sets?
ADLG: No. But it’s really fun to challenge yourself in that way. When I feel weak, I go, “I’m a mom. I can do this. I can do anything.”

Very true. FOREVER has been a show that fans have had a hard time saying goodbye to. I know you’re busy with multiple other jobs, but are you in the same boat?
ADLG: It’s so bittersweet. I love those people, and I loved the show. It was fun, it was really fun, so it is bittersweet. I’m so grateful to have these new groups of people, and they’re fantastic. You know, when you leave a group — and they’re your family, you’re with them 18 hours a day, you become close to them — you get fearful when you go to your next project. Will I have that chemistry with people? And thank God, on BEYOND BORDERS, I feel like I’ve known them for years, so that’s a really good vibe. But FOREVER, I’m going to miss it.

What was your reaction when you read that FOREVER finale script? Did you have a million questions for FOREVER creator Matt Miller?
ADLG: Oh yeah, I was like, “Is she in love with him? Does he love her back? Is he going to tell her?” I was like, “Give it to me!!” And he had some answers, and others, he was like, “I don’t know, we haven’t figured it out, we might go this way or we might go that way.” He had great ideas for the second season.

When the show was ultimately canceled, did you go back to him and try to get any lingering questions answered?
ADLG: It was still up in the air. He had an idea where he was going to take it before we wrapped, but they were still developing it. It’s still bittersweet. I still talk to the cast, often, and it’s like, “I miss you guys.”

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SCORPION airs Mondays at 9 PM on CBS; CRIMINAL MINDS: BEYOND BORDERS will air during the 2015-2016 season on CBS.

Related:

SCORPION Season 2 Premiere: ‘Satellite of Love’ You Ask, I Answer
SCORPION Season 2 Premiere Photos: ‘Satellite of Love’
FOREVER Finale Post-Mortem: Ioan Gruffudd on the Finale’s ‘Jaw-Dropping’ Shocks
FOREVER Finale Post-Mortem: Matt Miller on Henry vs. Adam, Jo’s Discovery, and More

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