In the NCIS Season 21 finale, Katrina Law’s Jessica Knight accepted Director Leon Vance’s offer to become Camp Pendleton’s new REACT (Regional Enforcement Action Capabilities Team) Chief Training Officer. So with this new job requiring Knight to move across the country, fans couldn’t be faulted for wonder if this meant Law was would be leaving the popular CBS show, but it worked out in the end. Law remains a series regular in NCIS Season 22, which is days away from premiering on the 2024 TV schedule. In a conversation with CinemaBlend, the actress shared when she learned Knight was sticking around, and how it led to her having fun over these fan concerns.
I kicked off my recent interview with Katrina Law, whose other credits include Spartacus: Vengeance and Arrow, by asking her how she reacted when she learned that Jessica Knight would be taking the REACT position, as this was a pretty big status quo shakeup by NCIS standards. She answered:
I knew maybe two or three weeks before we shot the finale that my character was going to be taking the job. I also knew immediately that I was coming back to the show. I mean, there's always that, like, ‘Oh wait, are you trying to tell me something, and you're all just lying to me?’ But they pretty much reassured me as soon as they handed me the script, ‘By the way, you get to be in here.’ So there was no mystery for me. That being said, I'm that person that thinks it's fun when the fans freak out about things. So I read the ending and I saw that she was taking the job, I literally went ‘Ohhhhh, the reaction is gonna be amazing.’ So it's been fun all summer watching people online reacting one way or another, some positive, some not, about my leaving the show. And then some people were even recasting my character and I was like, ‘Oh, ok yeah, that would be a good casting.’ So [there’s] the whole array of reactions.
It was nice that the NCIS writers clued Katrina Law immediately after giving her the script for “Reef Madness” in that she didn’t have to worry about finding a new TV gig. The fanbase, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. For several months, they were left in the dark on whether or not Jessica Knight would be leaving the core cast of characters for good. Sure, a cast exit of this magnitude from a TV series this is oftentimes announced/reported about ahead of time, but this also wouldn’t have been the first time NCIS has dropped one of its series regulars without prior warning.
Regardless, while NCIS fans shared their thoughts on the possibility of Jessica Knight’s time on the show being done, Katrina Law was getting a kick out of the reactions she found online. Granted, some of these weren’t so nice, although I did find it amusing how she actually approved of some of the candies people thought of for who could take over playing Knight. Eventually though, it became clear that Law was sticking around, but don’t think this means that Knight is just back on the team when NCIS Season 22 begins, with all her REACT work having took place offscreen.
In fact, Knight’s departure kicked off a “chain of events” for Season 22, including Nick Torres going back undercover, Timothy McGee angling for a major promotion, and Alden Parker essentially being an empty nester. A case will see Parker traveling to California, where he’ll reunite with Knight. Later in the season, Knight and Jimmy Palmer will also have further conversations about where things stand with their relationship. So while we’re still in the dark on how Knight will come back to the team, rest assured that we’ll continue seeing her on a regular basis.
NCIS Season 22 premieres next Monday at 8 pm ET, and the two-hour premiere of the new prequel NCIS: Origins will follow immediately afterwards. Those shows, along with everything else in this procedural franchise, can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription.
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