“Major Crimes” is off to an exciting start, and Kearran Giovanni is able to be a part of the action. Giovanni stars in the show as Detective Amy Sykes, a woman who has both military cred and a know-it-all disposition.

“She’s kind of the new blood…she young, she’s fun, she’s smart,” Giovanni said when describing her character. “She’s definitely that girl everyone grew up with who likes to raise their hand before everyone else…she’s very very eager to know the answer, but she’s also a military-trained officer who has lots of experience.”

In order to help get in character, Giovanni trained with ex-CIA operatives to get a feel for what it might have been like for Sykes during her military duty.
“It was pretty awesome,” she said, talking about how she was taught the differences between certain guns as well as how to shoot them. “I just felt very authentic.”

One of Giovanni’s favorite things about “Major Crimes” is the show’s ability to keep the audience guessing.

“My favorite thing is watching all put together,” she said. “I remember reading [one of the scripts] and going, ‘I don’t know where they are going with this,’ but the way [the ‘Major Crimes’ writers] can every story in so many different angles that by the end, nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

Through her background in theater, Giovanni is used to gauging audience appreciation. However, she’s attempting to get used to the delayed gratification that comes with working in television. “In theater, you have instant gratification. If you’re on stage, you’ll know if people love or they don’t,” she said. ‘We filmed the entire season before it started airing and so you don’t know. You don’t really see your episodes. You’re waiting in anticipation and ‘I hope people like it.’ It’s not like you’re sitting in people’s living rooms going, ‘So, what do you think?'”

See if you’ll like “Major Crimes” when it airs Monday at 9/8c on TNT.

(Photo credit: Steve Schofield)