Wesam Keesh Talks Law & Order: Organized Crime And For The People - Exclusive Interview

"Law & Order: Organized Crime" is different from its "Law & Order" counterparts, but one similarity it shares is how it serves viewers fun relationships, deep character arcs, and wild crimes every week. "Organized Crime" boasts a stacked cast, including Dylan McDermott, Tamar Taylor, Danielle Moné Truitt, and Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler. It's even one of the crossover shows Mariska Hargitay has appeared on, and who doesn't need some Detective Olivia Benson in their life?

The latest arc in the series, which is in its second season, features Wesam Keesh as Adam Mintock, though fans most likely know him under his nickname: Malachi. Keesh, whose prior credits include a starring role on ABC's "For the People" and guest spots on "NCIS: Los Angeles," "Good Girls," and "Dark/Web," has had a seven episode run in Season 2 during which he's helped the detectives with their cases in exchange for his freedom from prison, all while establishing a romance (via TV Insider). 

Keesh's arc on "Organized Crime" is drawing to a close, but we at The List were lucky enough to chat with him ahead of its conclusion. Keesh exclusively told us what his experience on the series has been like, how his past roles helped him prepare for "Organized Crime," what his experience entering Shonda Rhimes' TV universe was like, his love for podcasts, and more.

You have prior credits that are some somewhat similar in tone to "Law & Order." I know you worked on "NCIS: Los Angeles" and even "For the People," which are all of these shows that center around the justice system. How might those roles have helped prepare you for "Law & Order?"

Well, first of all, I understand a lot better how our justice system works. All the ins and outs, the criminal justice system ... Whenever you go to court, that process as well. There's a lot of stuff you don't know about, [including] processing a suspected criminal, what goes into that. It's some pretty intense things. I got to shadow a real public defender here in LA and one in New York for my work on "For the People, and, oh my gosh, man, the amount of cases they have to deal with and how many of those people, especially a public defender, have to represent people with mental illness — it's something like 80, 70% of their clients have some sort of mental illness and yeah, little things like that surprise you along the way. It helps build your character whenever you start performing. Little things here and there, it's all in the details.

These series, like the "Law & Order" series and the ["NCIS" entries] of the world help bolster many people's careers. So after this, where are some places you'd like to go? What are some of avenues you'd like to go down? What are maybe some dream roles for you?

Yeah, that's a good question. I love comedy a lot and I'd love to do a live multi-cam ... "Undateable" did that for a little bit. They would actually perform it live. That excitement of knowing that you can't mess up or if you do, you just have to keep going along with it, that sounds like a lot of fun and a challenge for me. I also like the procedural stuff too. I want to play some cop who doesn't follow the rules. We'll see.

That's amazing, because then it's authentic too, which is great.

It's always fun whenever you have such professional actors who can just play and you do something different, they react differently and yeah. It's just always a blast when you can go onto a set and everybody there has been so welcoming from the cast, crew, producers, writers. Everybody just very welcoming and just an amazing group of people.

Had you worked with anyone from this show before?

Yes. Oh, I'm actually looking it up cause I want to make sure I get his last name right ...  Fred Berner on "Chicago Justice." I got to do a wonderful guest spot on that and working with Philip Winchester on that show was such a blast and yeah, he had remembered me from "Chicago Justice." It was nice to see him again, and I got to work with a director from "For the People" that had directed an episode as well. Once you start working in TV a lot, you start seeing a lot of the same faces, which is a good thing. I guess people still like you and want to work with you.

I know the pandemic especially has hit actors and sets and everything really hard. How has that been for you, and how has that affected your career?

I got prison thick during the [quarantine], as you can see by my kettlebells in the back. I was eating and doing kettlebell swings and I got — I was like, "Oh, this is not in my normal range," for acting, and so I was like, "Okay, I got to bring the cardio back." It was a bummer for everybody, but I don't want to complain too much about it, because I know a lot of other people had it a lot worse. I didn't work for a while. 

When the pandemic hit, I was working on the pilot for NBC called "Echo" with JJ Bailey, Richard Brooks, who was on my podcast this week. I don't know if you know Richard Brooks, he's an old "Law & Order" guy. He used to be on there.  He's an incredible actor. He's been in the business for a while and it was such a blast to work with him. I was excited to work with him on the pilot and then it got stopped because of the pandemic and we never went back to it. We stayed friends and yeah, he's a guest on my podcast this week and we had a blast talking about life [and] acting. [The podcast is] called "Wesam's World," by the way.

I wanted to touch on "For the People" for a second. I was very intrigued because I feel like all through high school, I was watching "Scandal." My mom was always watching "Grey's Anatomy." I was exposed to all this Shondaland content. So I wanted to ask you what it was like being part of that and how it was like being in the same world as the Olivia Popes and the Meredith Greys and everything?

First of all, I'm so proud of being part of the show "For the People." The stories we were telling were amazing, incredible, illuminating. Things that were going on in our world currently, in our country, within our communities, and the writing was so special because it was so good. It was one of those shows where you didn't want to improv. They said, "Hey, we stay word perfect," and you were like, "Absolutely," because I want to stay word perfect. Shondaland Productions are some of the most well-oiled machines out there. Putting on a TV show is hard. It's almost impossible to do. You're going to work on some productions that have a little hiccups here and there, but I'm telling you, it was smooth sailing, at least from my perspective, during the whole process. It holds a special place in my heart.

It feels good to hear that this company that I feel I've been watching for so many years is like actually as amazing behind the scenes, as it appears on the screen. 

They're some awesome people, and a lot of awesome actors came from "For the People." You've got Ben Rappaport, Britt [Robertson], Regé[-Jean Page], Susannah Flood, Anna Deavere Smith ... There's an actress named Jasmin Savoy Brown. She's okay. She's not that great. You can quote me on that. I want that in writing. You have no idea, probably. Me and Jasmin, we're like best friends. We roast each other all the time. So if that's in writing somewhere, I would love that. ... My press person is like, "I don't know if we can do that!" 

[If] you saw my story last week, or yesterday, we were roasting each other constantly. She's an amazing human being. She's on "Yellowjackets" and "Scream" right now. She's so super talented. She has an awesome podcast as well. Everybody on that project was amazing, from the creator, Paul Davies, Tom Verica, Mary Howard, the producers, Betsy [Beers]. There's not one negative thing I can really say about the entire production.

Before bed, I have to watch ghost hunting or something scary. I'm a big fan of ghost adventures and all the other ghost hunting shows or "Finding Bigfoot" or anything like that. There's something about watching people in cold abandoned buildings while I'm cozy in my bed, that make me fall asleep within five, ten minutes, so definitely ghost hunting shows. I would love to be on one of those shows, because here's the thing. I'm not going to call anybody a liar or anything like that. I get it, it's your own experience, but I know how easy it is to edit things. I want to go out there and I want to experience it myself. I want to hear the little EVPs on my own. I want to see an apparition, and then from there, I'll make a judgment call.

I can honestly say no one has ever said that their dream was the ghost hunting show. This is amazing.

I love cooking shows too. Any type of cooking show with Gordon Ramsay or anything. I like to eat while I watch it. I feel like I'm eating the food I'm watching sometimes.

What can you tell us and tease about what's next for you after this arc on "Law & Order?"

Oh, that's a good question. Who knows? As with all of Dick Wolf shows, they bring characters back all the time. I might be coming back, I might not. Who knows? Yeah, I got to ... He was zipped up.

After the arc, do you have anything lined up?

I have a couple projects that are in development, but nothing really I can say or talk about too much.

You can catch Wesam Keesh on NBC's "Law & Order: Organized Crime." New episodes air Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET.