Linda Hunt’s Fan-Favorite Character Is Returning to ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’

NCIS: Los Angeles fans know better than to bet against Hetty.

Linda Hunt’s Henrietta “Hetty” Lange will officially be back for another season, NCIS executive producer R. Scott Gemmill has confirmed.

“Hetty has been an integral force within the agency and an especially important part of Callen [Chris O’Donnell’s]’s past,” Gemmill told Variety in a statement on Tuesday. “As Callen starts thinking about his upcoming wedding to Anna [Bar Paly], 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.”

On the first episode of season 14 of the show, a body with Hetty’s ID was found, but it was later revealed that the NCIS supervisory special agent had seemingly faked her own death.

The 77-year-old Oscar winner’s return to the show comes one year after COVID-19 precautions reduced her role during season 13, according to Entertainment Weekly.

It’s not the first time Hunt — who has portrayed Lange since NCIS: Los Angeles‘ first season in 2009 — has taken off time from the hit CBS series.

The actress missed all of season 10 after revealing she was recovering from a car accident.

She returned to her role — in quirky trademark fashion — by driving a yellow car straight through a wall ahead of the wedding of Marty Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) and Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah).

“I first want to say how much I appreciate the outpouring of support from the NCIS: Los Angeles fans following my car accident this summer,” she told TVLine in November 2018. “Though I had hoped to return to playing Hetty at the start of the season, I had to take some additional time to recover. I look forward to returning later this season.”