Major Crimes interview: Phillip P. Keene on Buzz’s journey, season 7 hopes

Welcome back to the latest edition of CarterMatt’s Major Crimes Month! We’re giving you brand new Major Crimes interviews from now until the October 31 premiere date, and today we are bringing you one with none other than Buzz Watson himself in Phillip P. Keene. He’s played the role for more than 200 episodes of this show combined with The Closer, so he knows this character very well at this point. He has seen Buzz struggle, seen him succeed, and really understands who this character is meant to be.

We recently spoke to Keene while at the 100th episode party for Major Crimes this past weekend.

CarterMatt – What’s been the reaction to the news of this past week about Major Crimes, and how’s everything been since [hearing it]?

Phillip P. Keene – You know what’s amazing? The fans have really turned out for us with a huge amount of support. Whether this is the end for us as they say it is, I don’t know. I’m hoping that we can move some place else. We’re a tight-knit family and I think we deserve another home.

You’ve seen Buzz develop and grow a lot — it’s been a really cool run for him. When you think about where he was when you first met him to where he is now, what are you the most proud of?

I am very proud of the character — he has pursued his dreams and he’s achieved them. He wanted to become an officer from the get-go and there were some things in his way. He really put a lot of work into this and he was able to achieve his goals.

When we pick up in season 6 so many of the things that Buzz has been battling are now resolved in his life. Where is his head at now?

He was focused for so long on this one job, and that was finding the killer of his father and his uncle. Now that he’s free of that he needs to find another driving purpose for his life. That was the primary goal for him. Now it’s to continue to bring justice [for others].

Is it fun then to explore different sides of him that you haven’t gotten to before?

I think he’s much more three-dimensional now. I think we see a lot more of his emotional life and I’m really happy to touch on that as an actor.

I know you can’t give anything away, but is there anything that you filmed that you’re really excited for people to see, even just in general terms?

There are some very happy moments coming up, and I think the fans will be really pleased with that. Then, there are also some disturbing things happening. Our heartstrings are going to be tugged at for a variety of reasons.

This show has challenged you guys in so many different ways over the years; how could they continue to challenge you moving forward?

I think maybe more personal tragedies. When you’re in the workplace you’ve got a job to do, but real life often does step in! Sometimes, it has a negative effect on that. I think that could be a benefit for us [to explore].