When Jessica Knight accepted the offer to become Camp Pendleton’s chief REACT instructor in the NCIS Season 21 finale, it seemed pretty clear that meant her romantic relationship with Jimmy Palmer was over, especially because Jimmy took the mere prospect of Jessica moving across the country so hard. However, following the airing of “Sticks & Stones” on the 2024 TV schedule, Jessica and Jimmy have officially broken up, despite the fact that the former decided to return to Washington DC in the Season 22 premiere. But could they get back together someday? Brian Dietzen and Katrina Law opened up about the chances of that happening.
In an interview with Us Weekly, Dietzen clarified that even though they’re no longer in a relationship together, Jimmy and Jessica will “always have love for one another.” However, there will be some “hurdles” going forward for these two, though the actor also teased that reconciliation could happen between them someday. As Dietzen put it:
Figuring out how to navigate that, how to potentially find happiness as friends and maybe find happiness with other people, in a romantic way is gonna lead to some really awkward scenes. It’s not as though the door is closed on a romantic revival at some point, but man, the twists and turns are gonna have to happen for that to occur.
Jessica and Jimmy were able to end things pretty amicably with each other, with Jimmy telling Jessica that she deserved someone who would chase down future job opportunities with her around the world, and Jessica telling Jimmy that he deserved someone who could provide him the kind of stability he needs. Dietzen added that these characters will “always have love for one another,” though as Jessica pointed out during their conversation while they were standing by as their teammates were dealing with World War III nearly igniting, “Wouldn’t it be nice if that were enough?”
Still, at least NCIS fans don’t need to worry about Jessica and Jimmy not being able to work together. Amusingly though, Katrina Law requested that the show’s writers “have Jimmy date” so she can have a few “hilariously awkward scenes.” As for her take on what the future holds in store for these crazy kids, the actress said:
There’s definitely still looks between Jimmy and Knight. The attraction is still alive and, you know, these two are still kind of checking each out randomly throughout the series. It’s not gone. … People date, sometimes it works out, some people keep breaking up and getting back together, breaking up, getting back together. Or maybe they just break up and it’s always something there.
We’re only four episodes into NCIS Season 22 as of this writing, so I certainly wouldn’t expect Jessica Knight and Jimmy Palmer to get back together again a few episodes from now. However, I’m not convinced that this is the last time we’ll see these two romantically paired. I’d like for this to be one of NCIS’ successful love stories, sitting comfortably alongside Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David rather than Nick Torres and Ellie Bishop. Maybe that could happen towards the end of Season 22, maybe it wouldn’t happen until a hypothetical Season 23, but I’ll remain optimistic.
NCIS airs Mondays at 8 pm ET on CBS, with NCIS: Origins following afterwards. You can also stream episodes with a Paramount+ subscription, and remember that this procedural franchise also has NCIS: Sydney Season 2 and NCIS: Tony & Ziva on the way.
