While Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) got himself a new protégé named Kitty, Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) got herself a new boyfriend.

In the Season 3 premiere of "Elementary," Joan's new boyfriend, Andrew Mittal, was introduced. Andrew is played by the British actor Raza Jaffrey, who recently starred on NBC's short-lived musical drama "Smash."

In a recent interview with TV Guide, Liu, 45, described Joan and Andrew's relationship, which has developed after Sherlock flew to London to work for MI6. "It's a relationship that's fairly new and gives her a nice balance," she said of her character's new romance.

"He's very warm and friendly and fuzzy and funny," Liu added of Andrew in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "He doesn't have edges like Sherlock does."

And since their relationship blossomed in Sherlock's absence, the "Kill Bill" actress said that the first meeting between Joan's former partner and her new beau was really interesting.

"There are funny moments [when Andrew first meets Sherlock] that create that conflict and tension that the audience wants to see," the actress told EW.

"We'll see what happens to [Andrew] in the end, but right now he's very clearly somebody that brings her a great deal of joy," Liu added. "There's not a lot of corruption there."

Series' creator and executive producer Rob Doherty also talked about how Andrew changed Joan since she headed separate ways from Sherlock. "Andrew is part of a larger plan to really ground Joan as we come into the season," he told EW. "She has, in Sherlock's absence, come back down to earth and built up a pretty stable and sturdy and normal life."

"Andrew's been briefed," explained Doherty. "He has a sense of Sherlock. It's difficult to really wrap [his] head around the significance of the Holmes and Watson relationship, but he has a sense of Sherlock-who he is and how he operates and, most importantly, that at the end of the day Sherlock is a good person."

Meanwhile, Miller revealed that Sherlock actually went back to New York because he missed Joan.

"He's actually back because he misses Joan and misses that dynamic and misses their work together," Miller told TV Guide. "His great excuse is that circumstances have brought him back, but he's very, very happy about it but doesn't want to show it. He is trying to pretend to a certain extent that he wants to be a mentor to somebody else. I think he's sort of covering up his own frustrations."

With all the tension presented in the first episode, Liu said at the New York Comic Con earlier this month that  "[Joan and Sherlock] are fractured," according to Mashable. "And I'm not sure [Season 3] is about repairing it but it's about change. And change is hard for everyone."

"Elementary" airs Thursdays at 10:00 p.m. ET on CBS.