NCIS certainly knows how to do a finale cliffhanger that will have fans talking all summer as they wait for the next season. That’s true once again, going into Season 24 in fall 2026, with the last image of the finale being a gunshot — with who fired them and who was hit a mystery.
But it’s not just the matter of what McGee’s (Sean Murray) newly discovered teen son, Mateo (Patrick Keleher) got caught up in, and Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) became wise to that Season 24 must address in its premiere. There’s also been one loose thread since the 500th episode, as well as a potential love triangle. Plus, after a successful crossover with the prequel Origins, and since events across the franchise are rare but do happen, there’s a question of another crossover between those two shows or with a new spinoff coming to CBS.
Below, we take a look at our burning questions for Season 24. Let us know yours in the comments section.
Who was shot?
At the end of the Season 23 finale, Torres confronted Mateo after catching him in a lie about using a work station to fill out an application for the agency. Mateo revealed he was armed and warned, “They could be watching.” Someone then fired a shot, but we didn’t see who. Executive producer Steven D. Binder confirmed to TV Insider that “someone was hit” but ruled out someone being killed. We have a few theories about who was shot, but whatever happened in that alley, there’s bound to be significant fallout for Season 24.
What’s Mateo tangled up in?
Perhaps the better question should be, what exactly could an 18-year-old be caught up in?! McGee first met his son when the teen’s mom went missing, and Mateo certainly got involved in that investigation, having gone undercover on his own to look for answers. So, it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility that he got mixed up in something else … but was he trying to help someone (his mom?), was it bad luck, or is there just something that no one knows about McGee’s son just yet? And how and why was he armed?!
How will McGee handle what’s going on with his son?
McGee has no idea what’s going on just yet, but Binder did tell us that he’ll be “all kinds of conflicted,” as both an agent and a father. It’s not exactly a new situation for him, either: His sister was once caught up in a murder investigation, and he stood up to Gibbs (Mark Harmon) in that situation. “I think when push comes to shove, that’s where McGee’s loyalties are going to lead him, but it’s not going to be an easy — It’ll be an easy decision, but not an easy experience,” the EP teased.
After all, there’s not just what is going on with his son to consider but also his long-time teammate, Torres. Will this put McGee and Torres at odds? Will the team take sides?
Who will be the next director of NCIS?
Since Leon Vance’s (Rocky Carroll) tragic death on the job, there’s just been an interim director who has not been seen. Binder pointed out that until Carroll, the character in that position wasn’t a series regular. “Structurally, it still sometimes was difficult to find a novel and interesting place for a supervisor to show up because that’s really what he was,” he explained. “So, when Rocky exited the show, we weren’t feeling like, my gosh, we need to get a manager back in here. We need to get that supervisor character back in here. Unless there’s a strong reason to do it, again, we’ve been letting the stories dictate where we go with the director chair.”
But could there still be someone cast in the role that we see on a guest star basis? It would be interesting to see how that goes for the team as they continue to mourn that significant loss.
Will NCIS Season 24 include a Palmer-Knight-Torres love triangle?
Palmer (Brian Dietzen) and Knight’s (Katrina Law) relationship didn’t work out, but it does feel like they’re bound to get back together. However, Season 23 also started to introduce elements of jealousy between partners Knight and Torres, and it doesn’t sound like potentially exploring that has been completely ruled out.
“There are very strong feelings about Palmer and Knight of the kind of, can’t they just get together because they’re such a happy couple? But that’s limiting storytelling. Having two people as a couple together is then there’s just a couple. There’s nothing to play. There’s nothing to see. There’s nothing to do. We’re a cop show, so they’re not at home having the regular squabbles that you’d see if you lived together and were at home. They’re in an office. And how many fights or dramatic moments can they have, especially when they’re both extremely emotionally mature people, especially Jimmy Palmer, I’d say, he’s been through a marriage and has children,” Binder said.
“Torres, not so much. And so it has shaken things up,” he continued. “That’s something where we’re just going to see where it goes. If we do go in a shocking way, the only thing I’d say is sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants and right or wrong or fair or not, it’s not a question of what you want, it’s how it plays out, what you do with it. And I think we’re still feeling it out in the way that these people in the real world of NCIS, the fake real world of NCIS, I think they’re all still feeling it out. They’re all feeling out how they feel, and we as the writers are right along with them.”
What’s LaRoche up to?
Oh, LaRoche (Seamus Dever), the man who took the promotion McGee had been after to deputy director and ever since has been a thorn in the team’s side. He returned in the Season 23 finale to get on their case yet again, and this time, it did seem like he had designs on the director’s chair, if the way he looked at it was any indication. Obviously, it won’t end there, given what the EP has said about that position, but other than that, it can go pretty much anywhere … with a definitive end to his story.
“We’ll see where that goes. We’ve sort of played this game with him a little more than we’d initially intended,” Binder admitted. “I think we’re going to play out his story probably once and for all in regards to his designs, and then we’ll see where that lands us.”
Will NCIS and NCIS: New York cross over?
Ahead of his new spinoff with Scott Caan, LL COOL J returned as Sam Hanna (which he originally played on NCIS: Los Angeles, then reprised on NCIS: Hawai’i) in two episodes of Season 23. Now that New York is part of the fall schedule and airing after NCIS, it does feel like a two-episode crossover is inevitable. But it will likely depend on schedules, based on what Binder told us.
“There’s been a consistent desire for crossover episodes since the dawn of time. So, I can’t imagine suddenly this is the year they say, ‘Hey, let’s not do a crossover episode.’ I don’t know. Something tells me they’re going to be shooting in New York, and that’s just going to make it a lot more difficult because then you have to lose actors to travel them and it becomes very difficult,” he explained.
Will Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, or any other past characters return?
NCIS did bring Gibbs back to the area (off-screen and briefly) to team up with Parker (Gary Cole) t0 take out the man responsible for Vance’s death (even if he hadn’t pulled the trigger) in the penultimate episode of Season 23. “It had to be worthy for Gibbs to come back,” Binder explained. That’s how he feels about any future appearances. (Harmon exited in Season 19 and has since appeared twice on the prequel, which he narrates.)
Meanwhile, Tony (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva’s (Cote de Pablo) lives together were covered in a one-season Paramount+ spinoff, and it does feel like the perfect time to revisit them on the mothership.
Will there be another NCIS and NCIS: Origins crossover?
Despite working across timelines, the two teams did work together — including bringing in older versions of a few characters in the present — in a two-parter in November 2025. There hadn’t been conversations just yet about doing another around the time of the Origins Season 2 finale, but executive producer David J. North didn’t rule it out when we spoke with him.
“I’m always thinking about what to do with that sort of stuff. I mean, that one did work out and we know how much the fans love them and there’s always opportunity there. So, the truth is I don’t know exactly if there would be anything next season at this point, but I do know that we’re always thinking in that direction,” he shared.
And with New York joining the lineup, they could always make it a three-show crossover! (Or New York and Origins could always swap time slots for one night, since the latter is now airing at 10/9c.)