NCIS: Los Angeles threw its wrap party on Friday night on the Paramount Studios lot, its home for the last 14 years, and Parade was invited. We had the opportunity to speak to showrunner R. Scott Gemmill about the series’ finale, which has been moved to May 21 and will be expanded to two hours for the occasion, to get the scoop on what we can expect.
While Gemmill wasn’t giving out any actual spoilers, he did speak in general terms about the issues that concern viewers most, such as what’s going to happen with the long-missing Hetty (Linda Hunt), who has been off on a dangerous mission all season. Will the team have to rescue her?
“We don’t get to that point, but it’s put in motion. Let’s put it that way,” Gemmill tells Parade. “We are going to have steps taken to resolve Hetty’s storyline in a way that I hope leaves fans feeling excited.”
As for the Callen (Chris O’Donnell)/Anna Kolcheck (Bar Paly) wedding, it’s happening! In fact, it could be the finale.
“That’s quite possible,” Gemmill teases. “There are a few surprises. We try to put everyone in a really good place and Callen and Anna are two of them. Part of what happens in the finale is Callen getting to a point of contentment and I think that’s why he’s asked Anna to marry him. He’s gotten to a point where he’s much more present and looking to the future, where for 14 seasons, we’ve seen him trying to learn about his past and figure it out. I think he’s in a good place. They both are.”
Of course, the funny part of that wedding is that Callen will end up with Arkady (Vyto Ruginis), who has driven him crazy since he first appeared on the series, as his father-in-law.
“I love Vyto,” Gemmill says. “He came in like so many people on our show as a one-off and we end up loving them and we keep bringing them back for multiple episodes. We’ve got this great, big family of characters that we get to draw upon.”
It’s no secret that a good series finale is difficult to craft. You just have to look at Game of Thrones, Lost and The Sopranos, and you can sense the discontent on the part of viewers, especially as they express it on social media.
“In fact, the longer you’re on the more difficult it is because there’s so much expectation and how do you live up to that?” Gemmill asks. “We just took it on a character-by-character basis and tried to put them in a very good place in their lives and, hopefully, the fans will be happy with it. I think the last scene is really fun and hopeful.”
That said, if CBS or Paramount comes back and says, “Let’s do a movie?” is it a possibility?
“Absolutely,” Gemmill says. “When you see the end, you’ll understand. We left it open to a next chapter … maybe.”
During our red-carpet chat, Gemmill also talked about how much notice he had to put the series finale together, what made NCIS: Los Angeles special for viewers and for the actors, and his plans to work with LL Cool J (Sam Hanna), O’Donnell, and Eric Christian Olsen (Marty Deeks) in the future.
