‘NCIS’ Bosses Want to Do Crossover With All 3 Shows, But It’s a ‘Little Tricky’
A mass crossover with NCIS and its spinoffs really does seem like a go, with the showrunners all on board. It also appears CBS wants its three popular series to do something big and spectacular when the new season starts this fall.
We already know that R. Scott Gemmill, the executive producer of NCIS: Los Angeles, told TV Insider:
“We’ve talked about [a crossover] a lot, and actually the studio [recently] asked me about it, It’s only a matter of logistics. If we were going to do it, we’d want to do it over all three series. Doing one crossover with one show sort of feels like you’re leaving somebody out.
“I’ve already talked to the other showrunners, everyone’s sort of up for it. It’s just the practicality of pulling it off is a little tricky.”
NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles film in Los Angeles, while Hawai’i films in and around Oahu. This past spring, NCIS, the OG, sent two of its main actors to Hawaii to help the rookie show better establish its audience. But other characters were involved.
But sending Wilmer Valderamma and Katrina Law might’ve taken them out of action for parts of other shows.
“You lose actors not just for a crossover,” said NCIS EP Steven D. Binder. “We lose them for the shows that we’re doing on either side of the crossover.”
However, he’s still seeing a likely mass crossover. “I believe it’s in the cards, just based on how well it went (this spring). Last season was a trial run. Hopefully, this season will have greased the wheels a little more.”
Katrina Law and Jason Antoon join forces in an NCIS crossover. (Karen Neal/CBS ©2022)
Two NCIS Agents Traveled to Hawaii to Solve Old Case
The crossover aired March 28. And “T’N’T” was all about NCIS agents Torres and Knight heading to Hawai’i after they learn a key witness in an old case is on the island with key evidence in hand. It made sense to send Law to Hawaii. After all, she was part of the cast for the reboot of Hawaii 5-0.
And viewers liked the crossover. The Hawaii episode drew an audience of 6.1 million. Here’s the context behind the numbers. Only two episodes generated a larger audience. One was the series premiere with 6.58 million. The other came on Jan. 23, when NCIS: Hawai’i switched nights and had an intense NFL playoff game as its lead-in. The audience numbers zoomed to 9.8 million.
Jan Nash, the NCIS: Hawai’i EP, also thinks a crossover is in the cards. “The chances of a big crossover are quite high,” Nash said.
“Chris Silber and Megan Bacharach wrote a wonderful episode,” Nash said. “And it ended up containing so many bits and pieces that the fans could love and that we could build on. And hopefully it won’t be the last we’ll see of any of those characters on NCIS Hawai’i.”
The interaction between the casts definitely was fun. Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) and Torres had a back story, with everyone speculating as to whether they had a Florida fling back in the day. Plus Ernie (Jason Antoon) had a serious crush on Jess. (Jimmy also got a little jealous in another episode when Ernie asked for Jess on a Zoom call.)
