Eva-Jane Willis Opens Up About The Origin Of Smitty's Nickname & What The Reveal Means On FBI: International

Warning: SPOILERS for FBI: International season 3, episode 11!

Summary Smitty's mysterious nickname origin is finally revealed in a surprising plot twist connected to her birth father.

Actor Eva-Jane Willis was just as in the dark as FBI: International viewers about Smitty's nickname origins.

The emotional impact of Smitty discovering her birth father adds a complex layer to her relationships with both of her fathers.

A long-running mystery is finally solved on FBI: International when viewers discover the origin of Smitty's nickname in season 3, episode 11, "Tout." The revelation leads to a surprising plot twist, as Smitty reunites with family friend, Niall Walsh, and learns that he is her birth father. Confronted with the news during a mission with the Fly Team, she must come to terms with her mother's betrayal and the truth about her heritage.

Fans weren't the only ones in the dark about where "Smitty" came from, as Eva-Jane Willis admits that she didn't know herself. While the actress had her fair share of theories, she believes that the writers' decision to connect the nickname to her birth father provides the necessary emotional impact. Now that FBI: International has been renewed for season 4, Willis is hopeful that Smitty's complicated family history will continue to be explored in future episodes.

Related Where To Watch FBI: International Ready for some excitement? Watch elite operatives travel the world in FBI: International.

Screen Rant interviewed Eva-Jane Willis about Smitty's relationship with her parents and what to expect during the remainder of FBI: International season 3.

Smitty's Nickname Was A Mystery To The Entire Cast

Screen Rant: Congratulations on being renewed for season 4! How did the cast and crew react to the news?

Eva-Jane Willis: We were in the middle of shooting Episode 11, actually, and the announcement was made at a moment that I wasn't on set. So I got it via text message, and then I whooped by myself in my trailer, but everyone else was on set clapping and cheering. It's always good to find out that when we say goodbye before the summer, it won't be forever.

We finally find out how Smitty got her nickname. Did you know ahead of time, or were you just as in the dark as everyone else?

Eva-Jane Willis: I was just as in the dark as everyone else. I had to do all those scenes where I'm teasing everyone and won't tell them how I got the name, and I didn't even know myself. We work at such a speed on this show that we are constantly learning new things about ourselves with each episode. It was a real gem when I read this, and not only because we get to find out how the name came about, but because it's so intrinsically linked with her family and this deep, dark secret that everyone's been carrying around. For me, it's really amazing to think that, now that this is all uncovered, she continues on through life with this name, which actually comes from her birth father, and has been part of this huge secret that she has not known about her entire life. It's like a little chink in her armor that she gets to carry forever, which, as an actress, you love that stuff. So very happy with that.

Before the reveal, did you have any personal theories on where "Smitty" came from?

Eva-Jane Willis: What I love about the fact that they chose Smarties is that it's such a British chocolate. I don't think they knew that story at all before Wade came up with it for this episode. They wanted her to have a cool nickname, and I thought that it might be something to do with her drinking days with Forrester, because when I first auditioned, and when I first joined, there was this mini backstory about how her and Forrester used to be drinking buddies, and she could drink just as much whiskey as he could. I thought there was going to be some kind of story about one drunken night or something like that, and she got this nickname. It turned out I was completely wrong, and it was much sweeter than that—literally sweeter. It's really nice that it's actually something much deeper than what I thought it was going to be. It has much more of an emotional impact on who she is. Good thing I wasn't writing it.

Smitty's Relationships With Both Of Her Fathers Are "Tricky"

As you were saying, there's a second shocker in this episode when Niall is revealed as Smitty’s father. What was your reaction when you learned about the twist?

Eva-Jane Willis: We have to have a case. Every episode, there is a case, and there has to be something that's exciting. They usually take real headlines to inspire whatever they've written for the case in each episode. They wanted to not only have this case, but have a personal thread for Smitty as well. So they cleverly managed to loop the two things together and entangle them in a way that Smitty gets completely jeopardized emotionally, whilst trying to be professional and carry out this case as usual. I think what they discovered through me working with them for season 2 is that I am actually Irish. I grew up in London, and I've never been to Ireland, but I have an Irish passport because both my grandparents are Irish and both their grandparents were Irish. I think that that might have been the starting point for this episode. And then they started looking into this really interesting IRA headline, this true story about a former IRA member who was shot when he was at a football pitch with his son. And so they took that real headline, and they took that as the starting point for this episode. The fact that I genuinely am Irish started to fold into this huge reveal.

Do you think Smitty had any suspicions about her father during her childhood or was this a complete bombshell?

Eva-Jane Willis: I think it was a complete bombshell because Niall was welcomed into the house by the whole family, not just by his mother. We all sat there together. Imagine how difficult it must have been for Niall when I was sitting there on my father's lap, the father that I knew, that was raising me, and he was there as a guest and playing with me, but knowing that someone else is the one who gets to tuck me into bed at night and be the dad. Me and Patrick Bergin, who played Niall, talked a bit about that on set and the challenge that he had, having to play the sort of friendly uncle character among what would appear to be a beautiful family. I was obviously very much besotted with my dad, played by Colin Mace, and heartbroken to find out that he wasn't my real dad in the end. There's a touching scene between myself and Patrick Bergin where I actually ask him if he wants to carry on being in my life, and he says that he thinks it's better to leave me be. There are a couple of reasons why he might have done that, one of those being that his contact with me could put me in danger, as we see through the case. It's got to be very tricky for Smitty to maintain a relationship with the man that she knows as dad and her mother and also know that somewhere out there, there's a man who's actually her real father, and that she doesn't get to see him or have a relationship with him.

Fans Need To "Tune In" To Find Out Why Forrester Is Leaving The Fly Team

What does this mean for Smitty's relationship with her mom? Do you think she carries any resentment?

Eva-Jane Willis: I think that her relationship with her mother was so complex to begin with. She always had this feeling that she wasn't good enough for her mother, and this whole revelation kind of proves to her, "Oh, now I see why I was never good enough. Because I'm walking proof of your own flaws, of your own imperfections." She believes that's the reason why they never really got on as well as she would have liked. I think, moving forward, there is still pain and resentment about being lied to and about being treated like a child. She's now got to carry this secret from her own father, as well. The man that she knows as dad, she's got to continue to lie to his face. I think that that's something that could put pressure on her over time.

It feels like there's still so much story to explore there. Do you think it could all come back into play?

Eva-Jane Willis: I would love it if it did. We go from case to case at such a whirlwind pace, that sometimes these personal threads, we don't get to return to them for quite a while. But I think that makes them all the more delicious when we do. So I would love to be able to see these characters again. I thought Pippa Haywood as my mother and Patrick and Colin as my two dads were fantastic. I was very, very happy with the casting on this particular episode. Vicki Thomson, the UK casting director, got an email from me saying, "Thanks so much! This is such a great family!" I was so happy about it. I would absolutely love to see all of them again, in the future, if there's an opportunity to carry on this story.

We're nearing the end of season 3. Is there anything that you can tease about the final episodes?

Eva-Jane Willis: We know already that Luke Kleintank is leaving the show. Obviously, we need to tune in for episodes 12 and 13 to find out how or why that's happening. I can't really say much more about that particular storyline, but Chicago Med fans will be happy to know that Colin Donnell will be introduced in Episode 12 to help us out. He's doing 12 and 13 with us, along with Teri Polo. We will be in Oslo, so there's another beautiful landscape for you to view as well.

About FBI: International

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From Emmy Award winner Dick Wolf, fast-paced drama FBI: INTERNATIONAL is the third iteration of the successful FBI brand that follows the elite operatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s International Fly Team. Headquartered in Budapest, they travel throughout Europe with the mission of tracking and neutralizing threats against American citizens wherever they may be, putting their lives on the line to protect the U.S. and its people.

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New episodes of FBI: International air Tuesdays at 9pm ET/PT on CBS.