NCIS Drops First Looks At LL Cool J’s Return Following Hawai’i Cancellation, And I’m Excited To See Sam Hanna Back In The Franchise

LL Cool J is one of the longest-tenured actors in the NCIS franchise (which can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription), having starred as Sam Hanna in all 14 seasons of NCIS: Los Angeles, then making a handful of appearances in NCIS: Hawai’i’s latter two seasons. It’s been a year since CBS cancelled Hawai’i, but we’re not done with Hanna yet, as we’re just days away from his return on the 2025 TV schedule. LL Cool J is reprising his role on NCIS this coming Monday, and our first looks at him in the episode have arrived!

This won’t be LL Cool J’s first time appearing on the flagship show, as the Season 6 two-parter “Legend” served as Los Angeles’ backdoor pilot, and he came back a few times during crossovers. But it’s been a minute since he interacted with folks like Timothy McGee and Nick Torres, so getting to see him share screen time with them will be most welcome.

Sam Hanna is coming back into the picture for “After the Storm,” which sees the team investigating three combat vets who are found dead in a hotel room. They track down a witness who refuses to talk with anyone aside from Sam. And thus, the character will come back to Washington DC to help out the NCIS protagonists, and look good while doing it.

We also now know that Sam will get some face time with NCIS director Leon Vance. What hasn’t been made clear yet is if Sam is still working for the law enforcement agency or if he left sometime after NCIS: Hawai’i and is just helping the DC team out as a courtesy.

Either way, don’t expect Sam Hanna to only help out from the bullpen. We’ll also see him go out into the field with Alden Parker, which means the chances of him pulling out his gun on a bad guy are probably pretty high.

LL Cool J’s latest guest spot on NCIS follows a year after NCIS: Los Angeles’ Daniela Ruah and NCIS: Hawai’i’s Vanessa Lachey respectively reprised Kensi Blye and Jane Tennant in the NCIS franchise’s 1,000th episode. “After the Storm” is a good reminder that just because an NCIS show is finished, that doesn’t mean one of its starring characters can’t come back. Even though there’s 42 minutes of story to work with, ideally some time will be carved out for Sam to share what he’s been up to since he was last seen in Hawai’i.

Once “After the Storm” is done airing Monday at 9 pm ET, there will only be two episodes left in NCIS Season 22. But not to worry, as Season 23 will be airing on the network later this year alongside NCIS: Origins Season 2 and NCIS: Sydney Season 3. NCIS: Tony & Ziva is also expect to premiere sometime in the fall exclusively on Paramount+.