Major Crimes Exclusive First Look: Meet Tao's Ex-Partner

Lt. Tao is about to get a blast from the past on Major Crimes.

Murder One and Boomtown star Jason Gedrick will guest-star on the final five episodes of the TNT drama's current season as Mark Hickman, the estranged ex-partner of Tao (Michael Paul Chan), and we've got your exclusive first look at the pivotal character above.

As we previously reported, the five episodes will tell one serialized story, as the team investigates a the connection between the present-day murder of a young woman and her 3-year-old son and a cold case murder of an off-duty cop and a deputy district attorney 12 years before. And as you can see in the photo, Hickman isn't exactly interested in helping his old crew.

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"He was fired from the LAPD for perjuring himself on the stand in an effort to put away a killer who was about to walk because their evidence had been screwed around with," executive producer James Duff reveals. "He believes all the other cops are corrupt and he just got caught, and that he's being made to pay the price for what they all did. It's an unusual character to see in our version of the LAPD because he is so, so politically incorrect."

And while Hickman has zero interest in working with Tao ("Tao refused to back him up... [and] Hickman believes all the murders that happened afterwards are attributable to Mike Tao wanting to protect his pension," Duff says), he will enter into a "off-the-books partnership with someone on the Major Crimes squad -- even though contact with Hickman has been expressly forbidden.
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"Taylor doesn't want Hickman approached or dealt with because of the way he left the LAPD and because now he consults with lawyers in discrediting LAPD officers on the stand during the trials of criminals," Duff teases.
So, what's Hickman really up to? Find out when Major Crimes returns on Monday, Feb. 15 at 9/8c on TNT.