The crossovers between RJ Decker and Dancing With the Stars aren’t over yet with ABC’s crime comedy now casting a former contestant from the hit competition show.
Us can exclusively reveal that Elaine Hendrix appears in the Tuesday, September 22, episode of RJ Decker, which airs after DWTS, as District Attorney Lake. According to the official character description, DA Lake is “sharply tailored with an even sharper mind” and “a cordial acquaintance of Emi (Jaina Lee Ortiz) and political ally of her late father, Victor Ochoa.” Her connection to Victor makes DA Lake “deeply invested in identifying Victor’s killer.”
Tuesday’s episode will involve another case that needs solving when a missing man, a mysterious item and a dangerous stranger in a pickup truck pull R.J. into one of his strangest cases yet. This comes as Emi continues trying to solve her dad’s murder.
“The first couple episodes are really centered around trying to find who killed Victor. I will say that it’s going to be quite the reveal — to say the least,” Bevin Bru, who plays Mel, told Us during a trip to the RJ Decker set for the season 2 premiere. “RJ Decker really gets complicated.”
Bru hinted that the show “levels up” as a result, adding, “Also for Emi’s character, it’s very painful to have to be dealing with that and just how people are hounding her during this super vulnerable time.”
Ortiz, 39, meanwhile, told Us that Emi will have to adjust to the new normal in her personal life this season.
“Emi’s journey for season 2 is quite the experience. She’s left off at the end of season 1 not knowing that her dad was murdered. So now she has to pick up the pieces of that and discover who she is, what her purpose is and what she’s meant to be and how she walks through the world without having her dad in the spotlight,” she told Us. “Luckily, RJ comes in to relieve some of that pain and that grief.”
She continued: “It’s interesting, because she and her dad had a contentious relationship and there’s no closure. There are a lot of unanswered questions and there’s a lot of just leftover feelings that don’t get to be placed anywhere. On top of just the lightness of the show, it has a blend of the levity and the emotional drama.”
Ortiz discussed how Emi’s life will change throughout season 2.
“We see Emi having lost her dad, but she is also in a weird space,” she added. “She has this mysterious stranger suddenly following her and you get to see how that’s uncovered. There are a lot of suspicious things happening.”
RJ Decker airs on ABC Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET. Keep scrolling to see more photos from Hendrix’s RJ Decker debut:
On the Case
Hendrix, who placed in fifth place on season 34 of DWTS with pro Alan Bersten, is joining RJ Decker after pros Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy (and season 33 champ Joey Graziadei) appeared in the season 2 premiere.
Looking Into Victor’s Death
DA Lake is expected to dig into Victor’s death after Emi assumed organized crime may have been involved.
The Overlapping Season 2 Mystery
The identity of Victor’s murderer looms over the season as R.J. continues to solve individual cases.
