NCIS: Los Angeles wrapped its 14-season run on CBS with a finale all about what the title suggested: new beginnings. But that being said, not everything was wrapped up in a nice little bow.
After all, the last scene of the finale featured two of the agents reuniting with a former team member and her recruits for a mission to rescue one of their own. A couple multi-episode arcs were left unresolved. Agents had started to look to the future in the final episodes, and it’s possible not everyone stays with NCIS in the future. One is even going to be recurring on another show in the NCIS franchise next season.
With that in mind, below, we take a look at the burning questions we still have after 14 seasons and more than 300 episodes of NCIS: LA.
Will Sam, Callen, Nell, and her team rescue Hetty?
Last we heard, Hetty (Linda Hunt) was in Syria. But it’s to Morocco that Nell (Renée Felice Smith) summons Sam (LL Cool J) and Callen (Chris O’Donnell) as she stages a rescue mission, with a couple familiar faces (Peter Cambor’s Nate and Erik Palladino’s Sabatino). “If we knew we had another season and Linda had been available, we probably would’ve gone to rescue Hetty and wound up in trouble and then had to have resolve that in the next season,” executive producer R. Scott Gemmill told TV Insider.
Now with LL Cool J recurring in Hawai’i Season 3 — he helped out Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) and Kate (Tori Anderson) in Caracas because he was nearby — what might that mean for the operation to rescue Hetty? Will that remain vague? It’s hard to imagine him heading to the island if Hetty’s still in trouble, unless something draws him there that requires him to leave that in the hands of the others.
How much of a threat is Kessler still to Kensi?
Kessler (Frank Military) made it clear that he wanted to kill Kensi (Daniela Ruah) and that threat very much remains out there. “I imagine we would’ve finally brought him to justice,” Gemmill said. With Kensi pregnant and her and Deeks’ (Eric Christian Olsen) family growing, we can’t help but think that another season would’ve seen at least one of them in some serious danger.
Will the Body Stitchers case ever be resolved?
The Body Stitchers case is easily the most disturbing one of the entire series — and those responsible (including a member of the FBI!) for piecing together victims and leaving them in grotesque displays remain free. Since they stepped back from the spotlight last we saw them, it’s also easy to imagine them popping up elsewhere, meaning the threat isn’t just to Los Angeles and the agents on the case. But given how long they’ve evaded authorities thus far, we can’t help but worry about how much longer they could keep operating — and going dormant for a period clearly isn’t a problem — before the case is closed.
What will the team look like going forward?
“I could see Sam going into the private sector or Callen. I think all our characters love what they do. I could see Kensi staying with NCIS and Deeks becoming a stay-at-home dad. I think he would be quite content to do that for a while. Fatima [Medalion Rahimi] and Rountree [Caleb Castille] would probably stay with the team and be upgraded to the higher echelon of the team. And then I could see Kilbride [Gerald McRaney] retiring, especially if Sam and Callen moved on. Hetty, I think, will do this until her dying breath,” Gemmill said while pondering the team’s future. With Sam spending time on Hawai’i, that could impact what the future holds for him after that.
Will any of the agents suffer any long-term effects from injuries sustained on the job?
The team has been through a lot over the years, with multiple members tortured and hospitalized. And Gemmill noted that the storyline involving Sam and his father (who has Alzheimer’s) “was for Sam a little bit of not a wake-up call but a glimpse into possibly his own future because of the things our guys go through. There’s no way that they don’t have sort of long-term health effects in terms of the number of times they’ve been knocked out or suffered a concussion from an explosion. So it was a little bit of foreshadowing in terms of Sam, in terms of what he might be faced with in his future as well.” Might at least one of them be forced out of the field as a result versus making the choice to leave the agency on their own accord?
Will Sam’s appearances on Hawai’i reveal much about the team or any of these questions?
LL Cool J made a cameo in the NCIS: Hawai’i Season 2 finale. After, it was announced he’ll be recurring in Season 3. How much will Sam’s time with the Hawai’i team reveal anything about the LA agents? Will we find out if Hetty is rescued (and if so, how)? Will we, depending on how long Sam is around and when he shows up, find out if Kensi and Deeks have a boy or girl? Will we hear what’s going on at the Office of Special Projects (OSP) while Sam is on the island? Is Sam even going to be planning to return to work there?
Will anyone else show up on NCIS or Hawai’i?
Thanks to the three-show crossover in January, the door is open for any of the OSP agents to be called in for a reason to one of the other shows in the franchise after previously working with the other two teams.
