The NCIS franchise on CBS is going strong despite the cancellation of NCIS: New Orleans and departure of Mark Harmon from the original series, and that’s largely thanks to the newest installment. NCIS and NCIS: Hawai’i have been a strong pairing for the network on Monday nights, and now the shows will have an even closer connection thanks to an upcoming crossover. For the first time, NCIS and the Hawai’i spinoff will share some major characters.
NCIS: Hawai’i notably didn’t launch via a backdoor pilot involving NCIS, which wasn’t the case for the other two hit spinoffs, so an official crossover is certainly something for fans to get excited about. The episode, which will air in March, will see Wilmer Valderrama’s Torres and Katrina Law’s Knight head to the Aloha State to work with the team led by Vanessa Lachey’s Tennant.
It’s not clear just yet what kind of case will require Torres and Knight to travel all the way to Hawai’i, but the actors certainly don’t seem upset about the trip to warmer weather, based on the announcement video from Valderrama! Take a look:
How perfect is it that Wilmer Valderrama was bundled up in a coat and hat, while Katrina Law was literally out in the snow, to make the announcement that they’re headed off to a place where they definitely won’t need any cold weather gear? Law’s comment about “being back on the island solving crimes” is in reference to her stint on Hawaii Five-0, which technically does share a universe with NCIS due to a crossover between Five-0 and NCIS: LA many years ago, but this won’t be the first case of one actor playing two different characters within a franchise!
The actors all refer to the crossover as a “crossover event,” which raises the question of whether the case that takes Torres and Knight to Hawai’i will actually originate on NCIS so that it will be an event spanning both hours of NCIS action. A pair of characters from the original show heading to the newest spinoff is exciting either way, but both episodes being involved in the case somehow could really make it feel like more of an event. Besides, CBS has had success with big crossover cases with the three FBI shows this season, so why not NCIS?
Plus, NCIS and NCIS: Hawai’i being paired with the 9 p.m. ET and 10 p.m. ET time slots on Mondays means that a two-part event could be positively cinematic, but only time will tell. While Vanessa Lachey announced that the crossover will air on March 28, she didn’t specify what time it will start, so we can only speculate whether or not the NCIS team will be involved before Torres and Knight head to Hawai'i for now.
Luckily, both shows are returning to CBS early in the new year, so fans can get their fix of action even though the crossover is still months away. NCIS and NCIS: Hawai’i are back in their respective 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. time slots on CBS Mondays starting on January 3.
