BURBANK, Calif. — How do you get Oscar-nominated actress Angela Bassett — who's never been a regular on a prime-time TV show — to join the cast of "ER"?
You ask her.
Or, as these things go in Hollywood, you ask her agent. Which the producers of "ER" did, not really expecting to get a positive response.
"We were very fortunate to make that phone call and have him say, 'You know what? It's kind of crazy, but she might actually meet and talk to you,"' said executive producer John Wells. "That's always a very good day."
And Bassett, who certainly wasn't expecting to hear that "ER" was interested in hiring her, reacted positively when her agent informed her.
"I got a call that there was interest. That 'ER' was thinking about a new character, and would I be interested in coming in to meet with these guys," Bassett said. "And I thought it was intriguing. Yes, I thought it was a show I always enjoyed. I knew they had a standard of excellence."
The show already had good word of mouth from Bassett's friends, including Forest Whitaker, who had a recurring role on the show, and former regular Eriq LaSalle.
"I know he had a great time, and many other friends had been on the show and done fine work that I admire," Bassett said. "So I thought it was very intriguing."
Of course, it didn't hurt that she knew that coming into "ER" in its 15th season was not a long-term commitment. Before Bassett was contacted, it had already been announced that this will be the final season for the show.
"That was something I was obviously aware of," she said with a smile.
Bassett plays Dr. Cate Banfield, the new head of the emergency department at County General Hospital. And, like a lot of others who have held the position before her, Banfield has ruffled a few feathers.
"I think she's a very good boss," Bassett said. "I think she has very high standards, but she's the new person. She's the new person in the room, and there's some folks that are not able to appreciate her style.
"She's trying to bring up the level of excellence, and she's butting heads with different personalities early on."
And, like so many characters that have preceded her in the 311 episode-and-counting history of "ER," there's more to Banfield's history than anyone knows at this point.
"You'll see as you watch the season progress is that there's a slow sort of unfolding of the reasons that this character is just tough and as strong as she is," said executive producer David Zabel. "She's kind of a dual character. We see a very strong side most of the time, but we also see a vulnerability just peeking out at the beginning.
"And as we get deeper into the season, there's actually a really very powerful — I hope it will be powerful — reveal about where this character is coming from, what has made her the person she is right now in her life and what she's going to do moving on into the future. And that also involves who she is as a doctor, who she is as a woman, everything."
Viewers will start to get more of that information in tonight's episode, which airs at 9 p.m. on NBC/Ch. 5.
The character and her backstory were discussed with Bassett when she came in to meet with "ER" producers several months ago.
"There wasn't a script. So it wasn't as if (there was) a clear idea of the kind of character they wanted," Bassett said. "But they were open to input of how I saw her.
"I think the only thing I changed, really, was her name."
The producers had originally named the character Bancroft, but that was "hard for me to say," Bassett said, because she kept thinking of actress Anne Bancroft.
"I went back to the writers and said, 'Bassett's going to be difficult,"' Zabel joked.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com