NCIS: New York premiere date and crossover preview: LL Cool J hints at who could walk through the door
Mark your calendars, procedural heads: October 6, Tuesday, 9/8c on CBS. That's when Sam Hanna officially becomes a New Yorker again, sandwiched neatly between the mothership and NCIS: Origins like the world's most tactical deli order.
Yes, LL Cool J is back — 14 seasons of Los Angeles, a season of Hawai'i, assorted mothership drop-ins, and now his own franchise entry, with Scott Caan riding shotgun as roguish agent Nick Schaeffer.
The setup
The pilot finds Sam mid-covert-op in Dubai when he misses a call from someone who matters — and that missed call drags him home to New York, where his friend, Navy reservist Jack Halloway, turns up dead under circumstances that smell extremely Episode One. Showrunner Byron Balasco describes the Sam of recent years as a lone-wolf samurai type working global hotspots, which is showrunner for "he's sad, but jacked."
The new field office lineup:
- Jennifer Beals as Robyn Wells, the boss who leads with intuition
- Jacqueline Byers as Addy Ross, tough agent with something to prove
- Shane Harper as Wyatt Hill, fearless field guy and hopeless romantic
- Devin Druid as Sean Sullivan, tech genius allergic to authority
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The crossover question, answered with maximum mischief
This is a universe with eight shows and 23 years of characters in cold storage, so of course everyone's first question was who's dropping by. LL Cool J, asked directly, chose chaos:
"I welcome crossovers. I think crossovers are great, and they're fun," he teased — and when the NCIS: LA names Chris O'Donnell and Eric Christen Olsen came up, his answer was that all are welcome. Super welcome.
Both he and Caan admitted they each have one specific franchise face in mind for a visit, and both refused to say who, which is frankly rude to those of us with theories. Balasco won't confirm anything either, but notes that in this universe, people have a way of popping up — and Sam will at least be talking about his old LA crew on screen.
Caan's own read on the situation is the correct one:
Including, presumably, criminals — otherwise this is going to be a very short season.
Previously we wrote: Clint Eastwood Turned Downed This Sergio Leone Cult Classic, and He Had a Reason: "I Like to Know the Joke"
