“Ten Days in the Valley” star Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje said that his character John Bird is unlike most fictional detectives on TV today.

In a recent interview with Collider, Akinnuoye-Agbaje discussed Bird’s qualities that set him apart from other investigators TV viewers usually see on procedural crime dramas. For starters, Bird is very calm and level-headed compared to most of his counterparts on other shows.

“I wanted to move away from being procedural, just running around, pointing guns and intimidating people,” said Akinnuoye-Agbaje. “Bird disarms suspects with charm and makes them feel at ease. That’s how he’s able to get more information. So, it was a concerted decision to play him down and play him laid back, and to be more of the observer.”

Although people don’t always expect Bird to be the head of the Robbery-Homicide Division or the top detective in it, Bird never tries to prove himself to others, Akinnuoye-Agbaje said. “He can learn more by people’s perceptions than trying to boost his own ego,” the “Lost” alum said of his new TV role. “He’s a people studier, and that’s probably what he enjoys about the job.”

“He’s a guy that knows life, and when you have real experience in life, you know that the best way to get stuff is not kicking down doors,” Akinnuoye-Agbaje continued. “Sometimes it’s sitting on the back step, whistling a tune and waiting to see who comes out. He just knows that it’s not about necessarily being right. He’s about the truth. That’s a very subtle distinction. When you have that as your base, it makes you behave very differently.”

In the series premiere, Bird was the detective tasked to work on the case of Jane Sadler’s (Kyra Sedgwick) missing daughter, Lake (Abigail Pniowsky). Akinnuoye-Agbaje said that while “the show starts off with the typical premise, where you suspect [Jane’s] husband … it unfolds into something completely different.”

In fact, series creator Tassie Cameron told TV Guide that Lake’s disappearance is “just the tip of the iceberg.” “This series dives into politics and police corruption and the drug world, all sorts of different areas,” Cameron said. “I think it’s going to go into a lot of different directions. I know it is!”

“Ten Days in the Valley” Season 1, episode 2, titled “Day 2: Cutting Room Floor,” airs on tonight at 10 p.m. EDT on ABC.

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