The Major Case Response Team is back on the case. NCIS is set to return for its 22nd season on Monday, October 14, as part of CBS Premiere Week.
This watch guide will provide you with everything you need to know as the team tackles new cases, secrets, dishonesty and even a mole within NCIS. Plus, the premiere of season 22 will be followed by the all-new prequel series NCIS: Origins.
Check out the NCIS season 22 trailer below.
When is the ‘NCIS’ Season 22 Release Date?
Mark your calendars for the two-hour premiere on Monday, October 14. Not only is NCIS season 22 premiering on CBS at 8/7c, but the highly-anticipated prequel series NCIS: Origins will air directly after at 9/8c. The episodes will also be available to stream on Paramount+.
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How Many Episodes Will Be In ‘NCIS’ Season 22?
Fans will be excited to learn that NCIS season 22 will have 21 episodes after having a shortened season of only ten episodes due to the writers’ and actors’ strike in 2023.
What Happened at the End of ‘NCIS’ Season 21?
Caution: Spoilers Ahead!
In the season 21 finale, the NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) team is brought in when three dead bodies are found on a decommissioned Navy Ship that is being intentionally sunk to create an artificial reef. During the initial investigation, Supervisory Special Agent Alden Parker makes a comment about how he hates ships. The team is able to quickly identify two of the bodies but is unable to identify the third seemingly unrelated person who appears to be an unhoused man.
Senior Field Agent Timothy McGee and Special Agent Nick Torres go to tell the wife of one of the victims that her husband, Tommy, was found dead on the ship. Seemingly devastated, she points the agents in the direction of a bookie and food truck owner named “Sloppy Joe” Sammy.
Meanwhile, Special Agent Jessica Knight is debating taking a job as an NCIS REACT Chief Training Officer, which would relocate her to the West Coast, putting her and Dr. Jimmy Palmer in a long-distance relationship. Jimmy gets upset when he hears the news and tells her she should just take the job and break up.
She asks Parker for advice about what she should do as they go back to the ship to retrieve a piece of evidence. While they are there, someone locks them in the engine room and a metal pipe falls on Parker’s legs, pinning him down. Knight gets the metal pipe off of Parker but quickly discovers that he is losing a lot of blood. She realizes the only way to get out is to try and swim through a water-filled hatch. She ties a rope to her and enters the freezing water to find a way out.
With his injury getting worse, Parker starts to hallucinate a young girl named Lily. As he becomes unconscious, the viewers learn that Lily was his sister, who presumably died on a ship. He wakes up only to find that Knight is no longer attached to the rope.
Wanting to apologize for their fight, Jimmy and Kasie try to call Knight and Parker and become concerned when neither of them answers. They alert the rest of the team, and McGee, Torres and Jimmy head off to try to find them.
They find Parker and Knight’s car in front of Sammy’s house, which leads them to the realization that the wife, Molly, is framing Sammy. They return to her house and find her and her uncle preparing to flee. The two confess that Molly stabbed his husband’s girlfriend and called her uncle for help, who then ended up killing her husband, Tommy. They ran over the third victim with their car as they were going to dispose of the bodies.
The team races to the ship and saves Knight just in time before she drowns. They find Parker unresponsive; but after doing CPR, Parker wakes up in the hospital. While the agents are safe and the case is solved, Knight still needs to make a decision about the job. The episode ends with her accepting the offer.
Who Is In the ‘NCIS’ Season 22 Cast?
The cast of NCIS has changed a lot since the series began in 2003. While some fan favorites have left the cast — including Mark Harmon’s character Gibbs in season 19 — the cast continues to captivate audiences with intriguing cases and suspenseful mysteries. Refamiliarize yourself with the current cast of NCIS before the season premiere.
- Gary Cole as Supervisory Special Agent Alden Parker
- Sean Murray as Senior Field Agent Timothy McGee
- Wilmer Valderrama as Special Agent Nick Torres
- Katrina Law as Special Agent Jessica Knight
- Brian Dietzen as Dr. Jimmy Palmer
- Diona Reasonover as forensic scientist Kasie Hines
- Rocky Carroll as Director Leon Vance
What Will ‘NCIS: Origins’ Be About?
The all-new prequel series will focus on the beginning of Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ career as a newly minted Special Agent at the NCIS Camp Pendleton. The show will be set in 1991, shortly after the deaths of Gibbs’ first wife Shannon and his daughter Kelly who, as fans of the original show know, were murdered by a Mexican drug dealer named Pedro Hernandez.
Mark Harmon will be back to do the narration for his iconic character and is also an executive producer on NCIS: Origins. Austin Stowell, who is known for his role in movies like Catch-22, The Hating Game and Bridge of Spies, will portray the young Gibbs. Fans will also see younger versions of other familiar characters, including Gibbs’ mentor Mike Franks (who was played by Muse Watson on the original NCIS) and Special Agent Vera Strickland (who was played by Roma Maffia in NCIS).
Watch the trailer for NCIS: Origins now.
Who Is In the ‘NCIS: Origins’ Cast?
Check out the cast of NCIS: Origins ahead of the series premiere.
- Austin Stowell as young Leroy Jethro Gibbs
- Mariel Molino as Special Agent Lala Dominguez
- Kyle Schmid as Special Agent Mike Franks
- Tyla Abercrumbie as Field Operation Support Officer Mary Jo Sullivan
- Diany Rodriguez as Special Agent Vera Strickland
- Mark Harmon as older Leroy Jethro Gibbs (narration)
- Lori Petty as Dr. Lenora Friedman
- Bobby Moynihan as Woody Browne
What Other Shows Are In The ‘NCIS’ Universe?
NCIS: Origins is the sixth spinoff series in the NCIS universe. You can watch all of the other series now on DIRECTV.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When does NCIS season 22 come out?
Season 22 of NCIS premieres on CBS on Monday, October 14, 2024.
Is Jessica Knight leaving NCIS in season 22?
With Katrina Law’s character Jessica Knight accepting a job offer that would take her to the West Coast at the end of season 21, many fans wondered if Law would be leaving NCIS. However, CBS has announced that her character will still be part of the team in season 22.
Will Mark Harmon be in NCIS: Origins?
Yes! Mark Harmon will be narrating the all-new prequel series and will make an appearance in the pilot episode premiering on Monday, October 14, 2024. Watch on CBS on DIRECTV.
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