Life as we’ve known it for our favorite TV characters changed this season with the deaths of Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) on 9-1-1 and the potential death of Lala Dominguez (Mariel Molino) on NCIS: Origins. And whether it’s storyline dictated or actually network finances, it’s about to happen to a major character on NCIS.
During an interview on CBS Mornings, NCIS star Wilmer Valderrama, who plays Special Agent Nick Torres, broke the news that one of the mainstay characters on the series will die during the May 5 two-part Season 22 finale.
“Somebody dies—and it’s not the murder of the week,” he said. “It’s somebody, unfortunately, very close to us, and it’s going to be very earth-shattering and really heartbreaking.”
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The question remains whether that somebody is played by Gary Cole, Katrina Law, Sean Murray, Jessica Knight, Dionna Reasonover or Rocky Carroll, who are the mainstay cast members on the long-running series.
“It’s going to shake up the team, and I think it’s going to probably really push us to go rogue in Season 23,” Valderrama continued. “The biggest idea was to say, ‘How do we disrupt the peace of Season 22 and set up the tone for Season 23?’ And this episode does that better than we’ve done in many years.”
With the announcement comes the speculation as to who it could be. My kneejerk reaction to the news was to say NCIS Assistant Director Gabriel Laroche (Seamus Deaver), who is definitely not a fan favorite and may have been up to something heinous. But would that really fit the description of “earth-shattering”?
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Not really. So, it’s anybody’s guess at this point in time, but I have two thoughts on the matter. First, it has been previously announced that Valderrama, who indicated it wasn’t him that is going to kick it, has been working with Disney on a Zorro project, so it may be that he is off to do that other series and is just trying to keep it on the DL.
The other thought is that the death might be to make room for LL Cool J to join the cast. He recently guest starred in his role as Sam Hanna and at the end of the episode told Director Vance that he was ready to return to NCIS.
The two-part NCIS Season 22 finale will air on Monday, May 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Stream next day on Paramount+.
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