NCIS has been renewed for a season 12 and the show will continue airing on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. when it returns with the new episodes this fall.
NCIS: Los Angeles will continue at 9 p.m. while new spinoff NCIS: Burbank will air at 10 p.m., making it a night of NCIS.
CBS didn’t announce a premiere date but at this point it’s pretty fair to project it for some time between September 18 and September 29, since every season has premiered within that time frame. Season 11 premiered on September 24 while the prior season premiered on September 25. The Tuesday that fits within that frame this year is September 23.
Meanwhile, the network re-signed five series regulars whose contracts were set to expire.
That would be Michael Weatherly (Anthony DiNozzo), Sean Murray (Timothy McGee), Pauley Perrette (Abby Sciuto), David McCallum (Donald Mallard), and Rocky Carroll (Leon Vance), reported TVLine.
Regulars Mark Harmon (Leroy Jethro Gibbs), Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer), and Emily Wickersham (Eleanor Bishop) are working off of different contract cycles.
There hasn’t been any official news about Cote de Pablo returning to the show in any capacity.
NCIS remained the No. 1 drama on television for the fifth straight season, drawing more than 18 million viewers per episode for over half the season. The ratings dipped a bit beginning late February after a several week break, but remained above 17 million viewers per episode except for the penultimate episode on May 6, which drew a season-low 15.8 million viewers.
As for the season 11 finale, Gibbs will return to his childhood home after his father dies.
Producer Gary Glasberg told TVLine that the story revolves around the loss of Jackson, and features “rough emotional moments” and “gives insight into some things about Leroy Jethro Gibbs that, even after 11 seasons, we’re still chipping away at.”
“This was such a significant event for us, both on-screen and off, that we wanted to handle it properly and do it well, and let people mourn the passing of Gibbs’ dad with him,” Glasberg added to TVGuide.
“It’s no secret that Season 11 had all kinds of challenges that came up, from Ziva’s departure to Bishop’s arrival, and then the New Orleans episodes. ... We wanted to not necessarily do another cliff-hanger, but do something that informed our characters and brought our family and our team together.”
The episode also features the NCIS team investigating whether a fire on a U.S. Navy ship that served as a secret detention site for indicted terrorists was accidental or an intentional diversion for an escape.
Viewers will also find all the questions that arose during the season answered.
“We just didn’t feel like we needed a cliffhanger. Nothing’s left dangling,” Glasberg said. “In Season 12, we’ll come out of the gate hot and go from there.”
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