Why Captain Joe From NCIS Hawaii Looks So Familiar
"NCIS: Hawai'i," the fourth show in the mega-popular "NCIS" franchise, just premiered on CBS (and is available to stream on Paramount+), so fans of the franchise are getting to know a whole new cast of Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents, who are solving crimes out of the Pearl Harbor field office.
The cast is led by Vanessa Lachey as Jane Tennant, the first female Special Agent in Charge of the Hawai'i office, who leads her team of investigators as they solve military and national security mysteries. In the first episode, Tennant and her people investigate an experimental Naval aircraft that crashed on the island of Oahu in order to find out who made the crash happen before classified information is revealed.
In the episode, Tennant goes up against Capt. Joseph Milius, a high-ranking naval official and fleet commander who's trying to keep the military secrets hidden and doesn't want a Navy cop poking around his crash site, but he comes to respect her as a leader.
Captain Joe, who according to Deadline will be a recurring character, is played by Enver Gjokaj, a familiar TV face. Here are some of the places where you've seen him before.
Enver Gjokaj was Victor on Dollhouse
Enver Gjokaj's first major role was on the Joss Whedon sci-fi series "Dollhouse," which ran for two seasons in 2009 and 2010. He made his first appearance in the series' pilot episode, "Ghosts," and his last in "Epitaph Two: Return," the series finale.
He played Victor, who, like series protagonist Echo (Eliza Dushku), is a "doll," or a person who agreed to have his memory wiped and his personality deleted for the length of his contract with the Dollhouse. He gets imprinted with memories, skills, and new personalities in order to carry out missions, which can run the gamut from satisfying a client's sexual fantasy to assassination. "Victor" is his doll identity. He's really Anthony Ceccoli, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan whose PTSD was cured in exchange for five years of service in the Dollhouse. He is in love with another doll, Sierra (Dichen Lachman), and their star-crossed relationship is one of the most emotionally resonant parts of the show.
Enver Gjokaj was Officer Saunders in Avengers
Joss Whedon gave Gjokaj another job in 2012, when he was cast as Officer Saunders –- identified as "Young Cop" in the closing credits –- in Marvel's smash hit "The Avengers." Saunders was an NYPD officer who helped evacuate civilians during the Battle of New York, and fought the alien invaders with one of their own guns.
During the battle, Saunders and his colleague Silva met Captain America (Chris Evans), who told them how to get people in danger to safety and tossed Saunders a Chitauri gun, which Saunders impressively used to fight back against the invaders. "If you find enemies down, get the guns," he radioed to his fellow officers. "The guns are very good." Unfortunately, he perished during the battle.
Gjokaj would later play a different Marvel character on "Agents of SHIELD," and the showrunners wanted to retrofit the timeline to have the "Avengers" cop be an undercover Sousa (who we'll get to later in this article), but they abandoned the idea because the timeline was confusing enough already, showrunner Jed Whedon (brother of Joss) told The AV Club.
Enver Gjokaj was Pete Dolgen on The Walking Dead
Gjokaj guest-starred in a memorable episode of horror drama "The Walking Dead." He played Pete Dolgen in "Dead Weight," the second half of the two-part episode suite in Season 4 about the Governor (David Morrissey) after the fall of Woodbury.
Pete and his brother Mitch (Kirk Acevedo) are members of Martinez's (Jose Pablo Cantillo) camp, and help Martinez rescue his former boss the Governor and Meghan Chambler (Meyrick Murphy) from a walker pit. After the Governor kills Martinez, Pete declares himself the leader of the group. But the Governor deems Pete weak after Pete chooses to not rob another group for their supplies and kills him, too. He's the titular "dead weight," because after the Governor kills him, he weighs him down and throws him into a lake.
It's not a big part, but "The Walking Dead" was at its peak in Season 4, and so in a way, every part was pretty big.
Enver Gjokaj was Daniel Sousa on Agent Carter and Agents of SHIELD
Enver Gjokaj is one of a surprising number of people (via Comic Book Resources) to play more than one character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After "Avengers," he returned to the MCU (small-screen corner) for "Agent Carter," the spin-off series about Peggy Carter's (Hayley Atwell) adventures in the 1940s.
He played Daniel Sousa, a World War II veteran whose leg was injured during the war. He joined the SSR and, later, S.H.I.E.L.D. as an agent. He investigates Howard Stark (John Slattery) and strikes up a romance with Peggy.
After the cancellation of "Agent Carter," Gjokaj reprised the role of Sousa for the final season of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," via some timey-wimey machinations. He helped the agents stop the Chronicoms and entered into a relationship with Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet), and was last seen going on a deep space expedition with her and her sister Kora (Dianne Doan) to explore the mysteries of the universe.