‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’: Rick Gonzalez Says Bobby ‘Thrives in Chaos’ & You’ll See ‘What Makes Him Tick’

Detective Bobby Reyes (Rick Gonzalez), one of Law & Order: Organized Crime‘s latest additions, is finding purpose in his new position. But is it now time for his colleagues to find out more about the man who slipped under their radar to show what he could do in his first scene?

In the October 27 episode, “Behind Blue Eyes,” while Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) is called to testify against the Brotherhood in court, the task force sets their sights on a dangerous criminal gang posing as police, and Reyes finds a surprising connection to the suspects they’re after. Plus, Sergeant Ayanna Bell (Danielle Moné Truitt) receives some unwelcome news.

Gonzalez previews what we’ll be learning about Bobby in the coming episodes.

How’s Bobby doing after getting stabbed in the last episode?

Rick Gonzalez: Bobby is somebody who knew how to put himself in that position, and these are the cool things that made me excited about playing Bobby. He’s somebody who knew how to put himself in danger and sort of find a way to be OK in those scenarios. One of the things that I love about Bobby Reyes is playing a character who thrives in chaos. I think that’s where he’s comfortable in. And so having to heal up from a stab wound that he knew how to take in the first place is sort of par for the course for him.

In studying the character and researching and stuff, I’ve known a lot of people in that world who thrive in chaos, and then learning from some detectives and talking with John McCormack, who’s our advisor, there’s just so many people who are undercover detectives who just know how to finesse their way through these crazy moments. So Bobby’s gonna do fine in this, and I think that’s how the audience is gonna get to know him and see how he brings his talents and his abilities to the squad.

Bobby has a surprising connection to the suspects they’re after in the next episode. What can you preview about the case and how it affects him?

What’s really great is Sean Jablonski, the showrunner, has created this ability and this window into who Bobby is and what he’s been carrying in his past and what’s been driving him, what’s really deep inside Bobby that we maybe see sometimes in him in the few moments we’ve gotten to know him. And I think right away we’ll get to see a connection, a big clue into his past: how he grew up, who was he connected to, what did that mean for him, and what kind of machine is inside of him that’s operating at this level and how does that affect him? And I think we’re gonna see connections to his past, people that he’s cared about, people that he lost contact with, and we’ll see how he handles that. And I think we’re in for a treat because we’re gonna definitely see the core of what makes Bobby tick and why it makes him tick.

Zach Dilgard/NBC

Looking at his undercover skills, how much will we continue to see him use that invisible man side of himself? I loved seeing him use that in his introduction.

Yeah. You’ll actually see it in a more exotic way shortly, that’s all I’ll say about that. But there’s definitely more ability that Bobby’s able to show in terms of how he can stretch himself to get information out of people. The writers have done a wonderful job of allowing me to just play and be able to use my undercover skills to get this information. I think that’s the most important thing for undercover detectives, is to develop a case to put information together, and a lot of times, they’re putting their life on the line for these things. And so there goes this moment for Bobby to thrive in chaos, for him to feel very comfortable in it and to accept those challenges because he loves it deep down. We’ll see it very soon.

He’s been with the task force for a few episodes now. How is Bobby feeling about being part of this unit?

This was something he’s always wanted. We saw his introduction and how he could finesse himself in there and show his ability to prove himself to be a part of the task force. After working for so many years in the undercover units with narcotics and anti-crime, I think there was something about organized crime that made him feel like, I think there’s another level to the work that I do that could be useful, and that could make me feel more purposeful. I think purpose is a powerful word, and just in terms of our show and each character — what are we doing this for? Why are we doing these things?

For Bobby, there’s just something inside of him that gives him purpose to do this kind of work. What I also love about this next episode that’s coming up is it sort of addresses the idea of where Bobby could have gone and where Bobby is now and shows the interesting duality of how life works, when good things happen and when bad things happen, and the paths that we take in life. And so I think for Bobby, being a part of this task force is important to him because it sort of fully realizes his purpose and makes him feel useful in his life and in his work.

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He told Bell he’s married with three kids, and he said it’s “hard as hell” when she asked about how they make that work. What can he say about his family life?

He is a very dedicated father. He loves his kids. What we’ll learn in these next two episodes is his dedication to his family. We’ll learn what that means for him. And I think when we start to figure out and peel the layers of Bobby Reyes, and hopefully, we’ll fall in love with him, and we’ll understand the complexities of him, you’ll see why he’s such a dedicated dad and why he loves his family so much. I think there’s something about people who grow up in really tough situations and never want to replicate those things for the children they love and the family that they have, so there’s something inside of him that really cares about defeating your Goliaths in your life, and that’s something that Bobby does.

Will we see his family on screen?

I hope so. I really do.

He’s never had his cover blown. Will we see something to test that?

Yeah, I think we’ll definitely see him get that tested, but in my estimation, I don’t think we’ll ever see him fail. I think that’s how good he is.

Law & Order: Organized Crime, Thursdays, 10/9c, NBC