Here’s What NCIS: LA Fans Say MUST Happen Before the Series Ends in May
The NCIS: Los Angeles fans have spoken, and it is crystal clear what they feel must happen before TV’s first NCIS spinoff signs off for good in May.
Earlier this week, in the wake of the news that NCIS: LA would be ending after this, its 14th season, TVLine scoured the hundreds of reader comments to see what you were most hoping would happen over the 11 final episodes (and certainly before the May 14 series finale fades to black).
We then took your most repeated wishes and threw them into a poll (alongside one personally meaningful option that maybe I perhaps added in). Now, 60,000+ votes later, we present the results below.
Who has to put in a final appearance? What major life events need to transpire? And what romantic developments, for good measure, should emerge? Read on to review our Top 10 countdown of your most fervent NCIS: LA wishes.
KESSLER RETURNS, MAYBE DIES
In early Season 12, NCIS: LA co-exec producer Frank Military penned the episode “Raising the Dead,” in which he also guested as David Kessler, a sociopath who has been obsessed with Kensi since she put him in jail years prior. Despite his despicable acts and taunting of Kensi, a presidential executive order got Kessler set free, and he has been in the wind ever since.
WE GET THE OVERDUE ‘DEEKS, M.’ EPISODE
In the vein of Season 1’s “Callen, G.,” Season 3’s “Lange, H.” and “Blye, K.,” Season 6’s “Kolcheck, A.,” Season 7’s “Granger, O.” and the like, an episode exploring Marty Deeks’ own past has thus far proved to be elusive — despite TVLine asking showrunner after showrunner about a timetable.
Last we asked show boss R. Scott Gemmill at the start of this season, he said he’d want to see if Deeks’ portrayer, Eric Christian Olsen, might want to write the episode himself. But as of Jan. 26, there are no plans for “Deeks, M.” Yet.
ROUNTREE & FATIMA COUPLE UP!
This potential workplace romance didn’t seem terribly obvious to many…. until the 3-way crossover with NCIS and NCIS: Hawaii, the last part of which found Fatima fearing the worst (and looking to bust heads) when Rountree got abducted by the baddies. The warmth of the young agents’ reunion scene at the close of that episode perhaps cannot be ignored.
SAM FINDS LOVE
Ever since Sam’s wife Michelle was kidnapped and died at the end of Season 8, in the harrowing episode “Uncaged,” the mountain of a man has focused on his career and keeping kids Kamran and Aiden on the right paths. Perhaps his strongest lead on an actual, new romance — with Falling Skies alum Moon Bloodgood’s Katherine Casillas — seemed to get derailed by the real-life arrival of the COVID pandemic, and how lockdowns affected schedules and held guest stars at bay. Is 11 episodes enough time for Sam to meet someone new, or reignite a spark with a returning familiar face?
NELL & ERIC RETURN
Both “Nell Returns” and “Eric Returns” netted about the same amount of votes in our poll (the former scored a few more, to be fair), so they are combined here in one item — and, truth be told, there’s probably no scenario where the colleagues-turned-lovebirds don’t return together. Barrett Foa was an original cast member, while Renee Felice Smith came on board in Season 2, and they both stuck around through the end of Season 12, where interim operations manager Nell at least got to say an in-person goodbye to a briefly returned Hetty. If we are heading for a wedding (we’ll get to that in a moment), we’d be a bit astonished if this duo didn’t RSVP.
NO GOOD GUYS DIE
Yeah, let’s keep all of the OSP alive to the very end, OK?
CALLEN & ANNA MARRY
Callen proposed at the close of last season’s finale, as part of a joyous “NCIS family beach party!” montage and against a legit, idyllic sunset. The pending union had been mentioned just a bit thus far since, partly with regards to Callen feeling that he cannot take this step until Hetty is back and he once and for all gets a bead on who all he is, and isn’t. But, Doctor Zhivago-themed nuptials or not, the smart money says that Callen and Anna say “I do” before NCIS: LA fades to black.
KENSI IS PREGNANT!
Kensi and Deeks’ inability to make a baby was a meaningful plot point for a season or so, ergo their eventual (if not 100-percent planned) adoption of teenaged Rosa in last year’s finale. Still, many fans hope that a wee miracle is in the cards, now that the series is approaching its end. “Number 1: Kensi must be pregnant!” commented TVLine reader Tracy, to which Ivelina replied, “twins – a boy and a girl!”
HETTY RETURNS!
Was there any question what NCIS: Los Angeles fans’ No. 1 wish would be? Let’s get Academy Award winner and Teen Choice Action winner Linda Hunt back on our screens, be it in person or, at the very least, a final video check-in.
“Hetty must return!” declared The Ultimate Fangirl in comments. “She and Callen must reconcile!” TVLine reader Hidoko’s Ghost (that screen name is just #TooSoon) echoed that sentiment, writing, “Hetty and Callen need to get everything about his past out in the open before his wedding.”
