Jeremy Sisto Talks ‘FBI’ and What Makes Jubal Valentine Such a Complex Character [Interview]

Actor Jeremy Sisto was “immediately intrigued” when he first found out about the role of Jubal Valentine on FBI.

The procedural drama series centers on the inner workings of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Sisto’s character is Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine, who functions as the nerve center of the office.

I recently had the chance to speak with Sisto about his role on FBI and what makes Jubal such a complex character. 

Sisto said he thinks executive producer Dick Wolf had “had at least some idea” that he wanted him to play the role of Jubal Valentine. After all, this wasn’t the first time the two had worked together.

“I liked the idea that I wasn’t in the street asking people where they were on Tuesday and tracking down the criminals and chasing them down because I had done that on Law & Order. I always enjoyed the scenes in Law & Order where we were back at the station, trying to piece together the crimes. That was always my favorite stuff to do,” Sisto said.

“It made a lot of sense to me to try my hat at this, and it felt like something that would keep me on my toes, and it does. I cannot phone it in. I’m always nervous that I’m going to mess it up because I’ve got a lot of dialogue and it’s kind of my job to keep that room alive,” he explained.

“It’s a specific intention or objective that I have that’s not super easy to achieve for me, and it evolves over time. That’s why I decided to do it, and I also was excited to be on something that has their eye on building a franchise that stands the test of time like Dick’s shows do.”

Now that the series is in its third season, we’ve had the chance to learn a good bit about Jubal’s backstory, including his struggle with alcoholism. Sisto spoke a bit about that backstory and the complexities of his character.

“I think a lot of these real agents that I’m friends with now, and a lot of people that work in crime-fighting and detective type positions, they really do get addicted to it. And when they stop, they miss it every day. So the fact that someone with an addictive personality, like Jubal, derives so much identity and a feeling of belonging and passion, or puts so much passion into his job, makes sense.”

“He’s communicating with everyone all the time. He speaks what he’s thinking. It doesn’t help if it’s in your head. It helps if it’s out in the world,” Sisto continued.

“Some people say he speaks too much, but that’s kind of what he feels is his job, is just to say out loud what is happening so that if anyone has anything else to add to the equation, they can do it. Just to know that he came from a place where he was a big secret keeper, and he was kind of running his own game, and he was at the mercy of something outside of himself, I think makes him a more complex character.” 

Sisto shares a few key characteristics with Jubal — and one major difference. “I like to include everyone. I like to be surrounded by a big group of people and to have lines of communication open.”

“I like to work hard. I can be a little obsessive. But I would not be a great detective. I think I’m missing a few key ingredients, so I let the writers handle that part of it. But the energy — and I have a similar face and voice to the character,” he joked.

Many fans were hoping to see a romance develop between Jubal and Dana Mosier (Sela Ward). Sisto said that as far as he knew, that possibility was never discussed.

“I think we’re following more a model of the Law & Order world, which is to say that there are maybe some speculations or possibilities that never come to fruition. Me and Dana were never playing a romantic inclination, but I think we had a good working relationship and I think it’s good if the audience can see that. It means we had good chemistry,” he said.

FBI has already had a crossover with its spinoff series, FBI: Most Wanted, as well as with another one of Dick Wolf’s popular current shows, Chicago P.D. It would certainly be exciting to see more crossovers like in that in the future. 

“There has been some discussion of an SVU crossover. I think it’s super fun that there’s an entire universe ecosystem within these shows that can live amongst each other. It’s like a more reality-based Marvel Universe. It’s fun. And we enjoy having a spinoff already, we’ve done some stuff with them,” Sisto said.

“It builds the world out in a way that it just starts to feel like you’re not sure where the universe ends and the real world begins.” 

One of the obvious new challenges this season is that there have been new health protocols in place. Sisto shared a few details about how those protocols affect the storytelling — especially an interesting benefit to wearing masks on set.

“The biggest thing is that you wear masks up until the first rehearsal, which is kind of cool. You’re doing scenes with people — you’re running through the scenes where you can’t see their faces. The first time you see their faces is right before you film. There’s some positives to that performance-wise. You’re able to react a little bit more as if it’s happening for the first time because you can actually see what’s going on behind the mask,” Sisto said. 

While the new protocols are very present behind-the-scenes, the pandemic isn’t taking center stage on FBI when it comes to storytelling. Sisto said that’s largely because Dick Wolf’s goal is to create a show that has a “timeless feel to it” but that is also reflective of the time period in which the show is made. 

“In fact, it’s very important that it speaks about what’s going on in the world. At the same time, it doesn’t want to unload those concepts or those images long enough to remove you from that feeling of comfort that a lot of people get when they watch a show like FBI,” he said.

“It’s odd, but people, it really relaxes them. And it allows them, even though there’s dead bodies and stuff like that, it gives them a feeling of security. And in truth, that’s what the idea of the FBI in the real world gives people as well. The idea, the knowledge, that there is a well-oiled machine and a group of highly intelligent and qualified people sussing out the dangers that face us all. It makes sense that those two dynamics are similar.”

“It’s also speaking about issues that could very easily get political, and it’s not that it’s not trying to offend anyone, it’s just not trying to get into the weeds of any of the arguments in a political way. It’s speaking about the issues,” Sisto explained.

He noted that an upcoming episode will deal with racial issues. “With all of the Black Lives Matter progress that’s been made over the last year, it was important to the Wolf family to make sure they were moving in the right direction and paying attention to the right things.”

“Katherine [Renee Turner], who plays Tiffany on the show, she had to kind of embody this storyline as a Black FBI agent having to question how far Homeland Security was going with overreach and whether or not there was any racial prejudice in their decision to look into the private actions of one of the characters,” he said.

“Conversations were had to make sure everyone felt comfortable. At the end of the day, there is a whole team of people trying to make sure, as they’ve always done since the beginning of the show, they’re not saying it the wrong way,” he explained. “I think part of the way a show like this handles that is they touch on the thing and they move on. The story’s got to keep moving. The mystery’s got to keep moving. The structure of the show is that it doesn’t land too long on any one particular issue.”

While he said he doesn’t have much time to do other projects, especially lately, Sisto has recently took part in an independent film called Last Night in Rozzie and a short film titled Wichita.

“Both of them are doing a film festival circuit, and I know Wichita’s been winning a bunch of awards,” he said. In the film, a woman is in bed with her lover when her husband calls, asking for something in his sock drawer. She runs home as fast as she can, stalling for time.

“I thought Wichita had a nice twist. Shorts need that twist to make them feel worth it,” Sisto said. He also noted that the film’s writer and director are currently working on a feature with the same characters.

“There was an interesting rhythm to how they spoke,” he noted, adding that reading the draft of the new script has “made me understand more clearly why they communicate the way they communicate, even in this strange circumstance that is occurring in the short film.”

Working on these independent projects has brought Sisto full circle, in a way. He recalled spending ten years of his career doing independent film when “independent film was thriving” in the nineties.

“That’s really where I got my experience. It’s nice to revisit that dynamic where you’ve got a young crew excited to be there. There’s a different level of exploration.”

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FBI airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on CBS. 

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