If you love “NCIS: Los Angeles,” odds are you probably like Henrietta “Hetty” Lange (Linda Hunt), NCIS supervisory special agent and operations manager of the Office Of Special Projects. Hetty is something of a mother figure to the team — and a literal mother figure to G. Callen (Chris O’Donnell), whom she recruited after he was seemingly orphaned as a teenager. He was one of many individuals she raised up to become a member of NCIS after they were otherwise abandoned by their parents. G and his partner Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) have both worked their way up to their current positions from the bottom of the NCIS ladder, all under Hetty’s watchful eyes.
But don’t discount Hetty as simply maternal. She’s brave, adventurous, and willing to mix it up in the field to make sure innocents are protected and justice is served. Even though Hunt had to skip hefty chunks of the last couple of seasons of “NCIS: LA” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, occasionally causing the show’s producers to get creative in order to keep Hetty onscreen, her legacy and presence are still as important as ever to her crew. In fact, Hetty is such an omnipresent individual on the show that Hunt has appeared in a shockingly high number of episodes of the program. Can you guess how many episodes of “NCIS: Los Angeles” Linda Hunt has filmed?
Per IMDb, as of press time, Hunt has appeared in 221 episodes of “NCIS: Los Angeles.” Hetty last popped up in “Subject 17,” Episode 1 of Season 13, and hasn’t been seen since. The character continues to be out of the office on a special mission, and per Parade, Hetty is expected to return to “NCIS: LA” on a more regular basis at some point down the road. However, the future of the character appears to be up in the air, as of the time of writing. Her return date is currently unknown, and via IMDb, she won’t appear in the show’s next three upcoming episodes. Gerald McRaney’s Horace Kilbride is currently serving as NCIS supervisory special agent and operations manager of the Office Of Special Projects in Hetty’s absence.
As shockingly high as Hunt’s episode count is, she doesn’t hold the crown as the cast member with the most appearances on the show. Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J are in a three-way tie with Daniela Ruah for that honor. Each of them has appeared in a total of 291 episodes of “NCIS: Los Angeles.”
