NCIS: Los Angeles returned for its 14th season this week, but fan favourite character Hetty Lange (played by Linda Hunt) was nowhere to be seen, following a series of only sporadic appearances.
But that doesn’t mean we didn’t get an update on what was going on with Hetty, and thankfully fans who were worried that the beloved character has been killed off will be relieved to know that isn’t the case – although the show did tease us with the possibility at first.
In the episode, the team were told about a dead body that had been found in Syria, which is Hetty’s last known location. Eventually, it was revealed that the body did have Hetty’s ID attached to it, but it was actually the body of a child. In short, Hetty had faked her own death.
Showrunner R Scott Gemmill confirmed that this is the foundation for Hetty’s return this season, telling Variety: “Hetty has been an integral force within the agency and an especially important part of Callen’s past
“As Callen starts thinking about his upcoming wedding to Anna, he would want Hetty present. The plan is to go and rescue her at some point and find out what she’s gotten herself into in Syria, but we’re just trying to figure out when we can pull it off. The goal is to make it happen this season.”
It’s an update on similar comments he made recently, in which he was a bit more unsure about if the actress would actually be back for season 14.
But now it seems it’s more a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ Hetty will return.
