2022 is shaping up to be a pretty exciting year for the current NCIS franchise, as the original series is just weeks away from crossing over with the newest spinoff. When the event was announced, stars confirmed that Wilmer Valderrama and Katrina Law would depart the mainland to join the NCIS: Hawai'i team over in the Aloha State for an episode, but few details were available aside from those two stars participating and when the crossover would air. Now, actor Brian Dietzen has shed a little bit more light on details for the crossover, and some fans might be bummed out.
Brian Dietzen, who co-wrote the episode that brings NCIS back for the first time since late January, spoke with TVLine about the show and confirmed that he won't be traveling to Hawai'i for the crossover, and that's not all:
I was asked about that at the beginning of the year and I said, 'Sign me up!' And then it came down to Wil and Katrina going. I believe Diona is also going to be doing a scene, but from here [in California]. So, no, not this season. But I’m holding out hope for next season. Maybe they’ll do it either at the beginning of the season or the very end, so I can parlay it into a couple of weeks there.
It seems that even though March 28 will deliver the first time that NCIS and NCIS: Hawai'i share the screen in the flesh, there won't actually be many NCIS characters involved in the spinoff episode. Wilmer Valderrama and Katrina Law are the lucky actors whose jobs take them to Hawai'i, while Diona Reasonover's Kasie will evidently appear in a scene set back in Washington D.C. It does make sense that Palmer and Kasie aren't #1 and #2 on the list of people who would need to travel across the ocean, since their work keeps them mostly in their lab for local cases.
That said, if this first crossover is successful, maybe the shows can get even bigger with more people involved for a future crossover! Although crossovers between even the NCIS shows that are set in the continental 48 states of the U.S. (with NCIS: New Orleans already over) are rare, and a lot of time has passed since a proper crossover between the parent series and NCIS: LA, maybe this could be the first of many events between NCIS and Hawai'i.
Crossovers are all the rage over on other networks, and even CBS has increased the crossover action in recent years with the stories shared within the FBI franchise. Maybe NCIS could be next, and Palmer could make it across the Pacific! Only time will tell, but it certainly sounds like Brian Dietzen would be game for it.
For now, however, fans can expect just Wilmer Valderrama's Nick Torres and Katrina Law's Jessica Knight making the journey to the Aloha State to pitch in with Jane Tennant and her team for a case, with Kasie in what will likely be a phone call or video call scene. It's not clear just yet what case will require the two agents to cross the ocean to Hawai'i, but fans should definitely plan on tuning in to CBS on Monday, March 28 to see the shows cross over for the first time.
NCIS: Hawai'i did already establish a connection between the two shows by giving a shout-out to Gibbs, and it sounds like NCIS won't have much of Hawai'i during its episode, but only time will tell. For now, look forward to new episodes of NCIS on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS in the 2022 TV schedule.
