Note: This article has spoilers from the Season 21 finale of 'NCIS'.
“NCIS” finished Season 21 with an intense murder investigation, a rescue mission underwater, and one of its agents accepting a new job on the other side of the country.
In the 10th episode, “Reef Madness,” the team investigates the murder of three victims found on an old Navy ship meant to become a reef. The episode also has Vance (Rocky Carroll) offering Jessica Knight (Katrina Law) a job to lead a new NCIS REACT (Regional Enforcement Action Capabilities Team), which would mean leaving her current team and possibly moving.
The investigation takes Knight and Parker (Gary Cole) back to the ship, where they end up stuck in the engine room, with Parker injured, after a wrong suspect chase. This sets the stage for a heroic moment for Knight as she swims in freezing waters to find help to save herself and Parker.
The rest of the team solves the murder and rescues Knight and Parker. Knight agrees to the life-changing job offer, leaving Jimmy (Brian Dietzen) devastated. This leaves Katrina Law’s future on the show in question.
“NCIS” coshowrunner Steven D. Binder said that the new job was a long time coming for Knight, teasing that audiences will be “pleased” with what happens next.
Binder told TheWrap that the finale cliffhanger will bring unexpected surprises.
With a long break ahead for “NCIS” fans, Binder discussed Knight’s big underwater moment, her relationship with Jimmy, and exploring “unusual pairings” within the team in Season 22.
TheWrap asked about the decision to potentially have Jessica Knight leave the team, and Binder explained the emotional drivers behind the story. He mentioned the example of Tony DiNozzo leaving the show, and how it led to other big changes.
Binder: Binder used the example of Tony DiNozzo leaving to explain the need for big changes in the show and characters' decisions.
He also discussed the potential reasons for breaking up Knight and Jimmy, comparing it to the departure of another character in the show.
Binder explained the emotional motivations behind Knight's decision to take the new job and how it presents a significant change for her character.
At the conclusion of the episode, Jessica agrees to become the new REACT chief, which means she will be leaving the team and potentially relocating to the West Coast. What does this mean for Jessica and Katrina Law’s future on the show?
We hope it signifies positive things for Jessica’s future. As for Katrina’s future, we like to keep the audience guessing and surprise them. So, I think it means there will be surprises that you'll need to guess at.
So, is Katrina going to leave the show?
I can say that we aim to satisfy the audience, and they will be pleased.
Jimmy reacts poorly to the news, expressing his feelings to Jessica while recalling all the people he's had to say goodbye to in his life. Although he regrets his outburst, he appears quite devastated when she takes the job. Could they manage a long-distance relationship, or are they breaking up for good?
They are both mature individuals. Jimmy has moments on the boat deck where he lashes out at Knight… But even though he gets upset and vents his feelings, it's evident that this whole situation has triggered something significant that has been building in their relationship. This isn't just a case of something happening and then them reacting to it and regretting their actions.
But I would say that even if they come to terms and handle the situation like adults, just because he’s wounded and sad doesn’t mean breaking up won’t hurt. It's difficult to do… So, I believe whatever happens is going to be painful. Whether it's a long-distance relationship or breaking up for good, it’s going to be tough regardless.
Things became quite tense for Parker and Jessica after they were trapped in the ship and Parker was injured. However, this leads to Knight's heroic moment when she swims in freezing cold water to save herself and Parker. How was it to portray that scene compared to what was written in the script?
It’s quite challenging to perform underwater stunts like that… A major film studio would spend $100 million on a sequence like that, and we didn’t have millions and millions of dollars. We only had a day or two to do it, but I believe we did a really good job of capturing the essence of what was written in the script.
We would have liked to shoot more underwater scenes, but there wasn't enough screen time for it, to be honest. However, we provided a glimpse of it. I think the audience will understand what is happening there, and that she is risking her life in a terrifying way… Going underwater and swimming in the dark to an unknown place, with a guy who’s about to pass out holding the safety rope? That's quite exciting.
In his delirium, Parker has hallucinations of a little girl named Lily, who we later learn is a childhood friend of Parker’s. What are you looking forward to exploring from Parker’s past in Season 22?
This is one of the rare instances where we introduce something that we have a clear idea of where it’s going from the beginning. I’m a big fan of presenting these concepts and allowing our excellent writing staff to take it from there. It's like a little hook that they can build upon.
But this isn't one of those times. This is one of those times when the backstory was considered first and we had to wait for the right moment to include it in an episode. It felt like a natural fit. Writer Scott Williams is skilled in this area, and I believe he'll be the one to resolve it in the next season. So be on the lookout for scripts credited to Scott Williams.
A shortened Season 21 seems to have resulted in some impressively creative episodes — the Texas visit with Nick riding the horse to chase a suspect was a special highlight. How was it to create a season with less than half the usual episode order for NCIS?
Like most things, these have their challenges and benefits. It was challenging because we didn't have time to create storylines that ran through the episodes or develop character storylines to unfold over the course of 20 to 24 episodes…
But it was also freeing because now we didn't have to focus on that, we could concentrate on creating interesting, good stories, which has always been the essence of this show. Good, standalone stories that you can immerse yourself in with characters that you like — so it was helpful in that respect. And I finally had some room to write one, so that was enjoyable for me too.
I had always wanted to do an alien episode. So I got to do that with a great team, Aurorae Khoo and Gina Gold. They approached me and suggested, “That guy testifying before Congress about the UFO… what if he turned up dead?” And I thought, “That's intriguing.”
So do aliens exist in the “NCIS” world?
I personally believe they absolutely exist in the world. Whether or not they're visiting us is an open question, or whether or not they're going to make themselves known to us. But I'm pro-alien, and I think probably most of the audience is too.
Season 22 brings the show back to a regular series order. Have you started thinking about where the show goes from here?
One of the things we want to focus on in the upcoming season is unusual and fun pairings. We've done that to some extent in the past… but people we don't normally get to see together… We really want to mix things up.
And then the other thing I want to do is, haven’t come up with a catchphrase for it yet. But when an actor says “my character wouldn't do that.” That’s the thing you hear all the time.
We want to come up with things that our characters wouldn't do and put them in situations where they are going to do that, because the situations are so extreme and they have to do things they wouldn't normally do. I want to make that a North Star for the writers next season, because it'll be something interesting to watch and puts the pedal to the metal on some of these character psyches.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
All episodes of NCIS are now available on Paramount+. The show will return for Season 22 this autumn.
