CBS Clears The Path For Ellie Bishop’s NCIS Return

The path for Ellie Bishop’s return to NCIS is now clear after a few clues indicating her re-emergence. Being on the air for over two decades now, the CBS procedural has gone through several cast reshuffles. Much has been said about Mark Harmon’s exit as Leroy Jethro Gibbs in NCIS season 19, as he was the face of the show for years. The departures of fan-favorites such as Ziva David, Tony DiNozzo Jr., and Abby Sciuto have been discussed a lot. That said, one exit that hasn’t been dissected as much is NCIS losing Emily Wickersham’s Bishop.

After Vera temporarily filled in after Ziva left, NCIS eventually replaced Cote de Pablo’s agent permanently with Bishop. Coming from the NSA, she had to learn to be a field agent, with Tim McGee, Gibbs, and DiNozzo functioning as his mentors, and over time, she became one of the best people in the team. In arguably one of the more baffling exits in the NCIS franchise, it was revealed that she had been secretly training to become a long-term undercover assignment. Boshop hasn’t been seen since she left MCRT in 2021, but her path to return is now clear.

NCIS Season 23 Has Dropped A Couple Of Clues About Bishop’s Return

It all started with Sean Murray teasing the return of a familiar face in NCIS (via TVLine), saying that “someone from the world of ‘NCIS’ who everyone knows very well but hasn’t seen in a very long time may pop up.” The actor expertly teased the supposed comeback, but he didn’t add any other detail about who that might be. At this point, there are several options that fit Murray’s description.

That said, CBS subsequently shared the official synopsis for the NCIS season 23 midseason finale that solidified Bishop as the best candidate for the special surprise. According to the plot of “Heaven and Nature,” “Knight is given her first NCIS: Elite mission, which involves tracking down a former member of the team.” Admittedly, there are several ex-MCRT members who haven’t been on the show and are due for a return. That said, Bishop’s exit fate as an undercover agent makes her the perfect candidate for being tracked down by NCIS: Elite.

Emily Wickersham Was Recently Spotted Reconnecting With Her Former NCIS Collaborators

Aside from what has been said about this major character return in NCIS season 23, another clue about Bishop’s possible return to the CBS programming institution comes from a behind-the-scenes detail. Back in October, NCIS: Origins co-showrunner David J. North shared images of Wickersham visiting him in his office at Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood. The pair worked together during their joint time in the flagship, as North served as co-executive producer by the time the actor exited the procedural.

Granted that North is now mainly working on the prequel and it’s difficult to stage a return for Bishop in NCIS: Origins simply because of where it lands in the timeline, but the fact that Wickersham has reconnected with him works well with the timing of her character’s potential return. It works together based on all the other clues pointing out to CBS staging a possible re-emergence of the final MCRT detective that Gibbs got to really mentor. In terms of narrative, Bishop’s NCIS return is also easily justified because of the way she was written out.