Michael Bishop is a fictional character of the CW television series Nikita, portrayed by Shane West.
Little is actually known about his past; but flashbacks show Michael was originally a U.S. Navy intelligence officer (although Season 1 episode "Covenant" depicts him in Marine uniform), working primarily in the United Arab Emirates.
No sooner had he regained consciousness after the incident, Michael, recovering in a hospital bed and emotionally destroyed by the loss of his family, immediately attempted suicide with pain medication – Percy Rose, however, enters and recruited him into Division; hoping Division will assist him in locating Kasim and Michael would get an opportunity to get revenge.
In 2011, Michael finally joined Nikita and her cause after finding out the true reasons behind the death of his family – Kasim only posed as a snitch, and was truly an NOC Division agent; the death of his family was actually due to Percy, the man who saved his life, who had persuaded Kasim that Michael would be an ideal target to gain the approval from Al-Qaeda.
In the episode "Alexandra", he questions her about it, claiming that had she never acted he could have gained revenge and expresses anger that she did so,[1] to which Nikita retaliates with, "What I did I did out of..." before trailing off (the implication being that she was going to say she did it out of love).
As a field agent, he played a similar role to that of Amanda, who were both high-ranking yet with some psychological leanings in their positions.
He also has a platonic relationship with Alex, who is first processed into Division by Michael in the pilot episode, and he instructs her on the training she will receive, thus learning how to properly "serve her country".
Part of this anticipation balanced on the idea of Michael and Nikita's romantic relationship (as had been portrayed in most former incarnations of the tale) and if West and Q possessed a good enough chemistry to play the two.
West stated that, concerning Dupuis, he "always actually liked his work" as well as having also been a fan of the original USA Network La Femme Nikita television series.