‘FBI: Most Wanted’: Roxy Sternberg on Barnes’ Friction with Remy and ‘Hunger’ for Distraction (Exclusive)

Roxy Sternberg returned in tonight’s FBI: Most Wanted and Special Agent Sheryll Barnes got off to a rocky start. The actress spoke to PopCulture.com about the new episode, “Pig Butchering,” which saw Barnes going off on her own to help a young girl in trouble and going behind Remy’s back. Sternberg revealed what it was like playing off the dynamic with Dylan McDermott, saying she loves “a little bit of friction.”

“I love playing friction on camera,” she continued. “I think that’s really fun. I think relationships aren’t easy, and especially when we’re working with each other in environments. We are working in extreme environments where it’s a matter of life or death. I feel like it will get stressful. People don’t always see eye to eye in normal circumstances, let alone these strong, highly stressful environments. And it’s only natural that there will be some conflict. And it’s really interesting and fun playing that. It doesn’t need to be, like, shouting at each other during scenes, but a little bit of friction, a little bit of adversity, a little bit of annoyance, a little bit of discomfort, I think is exciting to play.”

As for why Barnes disobeyed Remy’s orders after telling her to kick it to FBI‘s Jubal and decided to investigate herself, bringing in Hannah, and is so determined to find the young girl, Sternberg thinks it’s about “saving.” She explained, “I think she sees her children and this young girl, Jesse. I wasn’t able to save the marriage. I wasn’t able to win my children over, but I will save this girl’s life. So I think there are some parallels there to my own children and to the dissatisfaction of the way things ended with Charlotte. And I will make this right there for this girl. This girl is gonna get an opportunity. So, I think there’s definitely a link there. And also coming back to work as well, that hunger, wanting a distraction. I think they all play into my personal life as well.”

With much more to look forward to with this storyline and much to dig into with Barnes as she navigates this new life without Charlotte and her kids, Sternberg said “there must be a feeling of there’s nothing else to lose” once your children are taken from you. “There’s an invincible kind of feeling. It’s like, well, what else? There’s nothing that could top this. Nothing else could go wrong in my life,” she continued. “Obviously, I could lose my children in a deeper way. But once your children are taken away from you, I feel like there is a certain mama bear energy that comes out and an invincible feeling.”

“I will take on the world if I need to win my family back,” Sternberg shared. “So, I think that also comes into play with my clashing heads with Dylan. I almost didn’t care that he said, ‘No. Kick this to Jubal.’ I am gonna follow through because my children have been taken away from me. I will not have you let this child be taken away from this child’s parents. So I feel like there’s a sense of kind of fearlessness, which I think she already has being an FBI agent. But I feel like I’m on the next level now that I’ve lost my family.”

Speaking of clashing heads with Dylan McDermott’s Remy, he gave Barnes a warning at the end of the episode, telling her she already has two strikes and one more, she’s out, even despite the case having a happy ending and the girl being found safe and sound. The outcome was a shocking one for Sternberg, who was “kind of expecting it to have the reverse effect. I was expecting for him to honor my hard work and maybe even celebrate the fact that I followed through despite his telling me not to. And instead, he gives me a warning, which was kind of shocking and scary, I think. She’s been doing this for such a long time, and she still needs to prove herself in many ways.”

As for what fans can look forward to in the future following their clash, Sternberg says you have to have a “certain resilience” for a situation like that. “Even though in my personal life, if someone were to say to me, ‘Three strikes and you’re out,’ that would make me a little bit more hesitant, trepidacious, but I feel like you’ve got to be resilient,” she shared. “Business resumes. So there hasn’t been any friction that has been carried on from that moment. It’s note-taking, business resumes. So it hasn’t affected our work, but I have taken that note.”

Fans will want to tune in to new episodes of FBI: Most Wanted on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS to see what will happen next with Barnes because it sounds she is going to be dealing with a lot, both personally and professionally.