“The boys are back”
When Lincoln Lewis landed a role in the latest season of NCIS: Sydney, the first person he called was someone who would understand the significance most: his long-time friend and frequent co-star Todd Lasance, who plays Sergeant Jim ‘JD’ Dempsey in the series. After years of willing the universe to put them on the same set again, the dream finally happened.
“They put us in the same car heading to the rehearsals, and Todd and I sat next to each other,” Lincoln, 38, tells TV WEEK from the set at Callan Park in Sydney.
“He just goes, ‘Brother, we’re heading to set together.’ The last time we sat in a car travelling to set together was for Home and Away. It was a really weird moment of just realising how good this is: the boys are back.”
The pair have been through a lot, meeting when they were 19 and 22, and having worked on multiple projects together, but they really bonded when they both moved into a mouldy flat in Dee Why, on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
“We were roommates for a year and a half,” Lincoln recalls.
“Todd and I actually used to spend night after night helping each other out with our scenes for the next day, whether we were in it together or not. We’d watch movies that we really admired – some of the best connective work I’ve ever done was with Todd.”
“I’m surprised we didn’t get a fungal infection from that flat,” Todd, 40, adds to the chat with a laugh between takes.
They’ve also been there for each other through the tough times that come with being actors in a competitive industry.
“You can spend a long time unemployed in this industry,” Lincoln says.
“It’s months of auditions and then months of nothing – it hits the soul. Todd’s always been the one I’ve called when I didn’t get a role.”
Lincoln did, however, land the role of Vinnie Rees, a treasure-hunting TV host with big-screen bravado and a willingness to do whatever it takes to claim the next great discovery in NCIS: Sydney. Vinnie is loud, fearless, and larger than life – and Lincoln leans into every second of it.
“Vinnie is a mix between Tiger King meets Bear Grylls meets Steve Irwin, Alby Mangels, all those together,” Lincoln says.
“I can unleash all my excitement for being on this set and channel it into my character. We both have that puppy dog excitement – I’m just stoked on life.”
Perhaps Vinnie feels so right because Lincoln has always been wired for exploration. His other job – when he’s not on a fictional crime scene – is as a Getaway travel presenter.
“I love travel, I love adventuring,” he says. “I love hosting a travel show, which funnily enough, is what Vinnie does.”
And the magnitude of being part of a global juggernaut hasn’t dimmed for a second, with Lincoln claiming that even a three-second cameo on a show like NCIS: Sydney would have been enough.
“I could count easily on one hand the productions I’ve been on that have been as detailed,” he says.
“They don’t miss a beat. They’re putting everything into this, and it shows given how popular it is in the States. Every second I get to spend on this set, I’m like, ‘Wait I’m part of this? Are you kidding me?’ If I was a dude in the background raking leaves, I’d still say, ‘Sign me up!’”
