We are just weeks away from the premiere of NCIS Season 18 (November 17), and some new details have spilled out about the season premiere.
NCIS Season 18 Episode 1 is titled “Sturgeon Season,” and will feature the return of Fornell.
“Gibbs and Fornell (Joe Spano) attempt to track down the leader of a drug ring who supplied drugs to Fornell’s daughter,” reads the CBS description of the episode.
“Also, the team deals with the case of a missing cadaver from the NCIS autopsy room.”
Spano previously confirmed his return via social media, but it’s always good to get confirmation from the network.
If you watch NCIS online, you know that Gibbs was supposedly off on a fishing trip in a plot that confused fans on NCIS Season 17.
And fans will be getting some resolution during the coming season.
“We had an episode last year called ‘Musical Chairs,’ where Gibbs disappears from the squad room to go on a mission, and then he shows up at the end of the episode with a black eye,” Co-Showrunner Steve Binder explained to TVLine.
This means that the early episodes of NCIS Season 18 will take place before the COVID-19 pandemic, and will give fans answers to the most burning questions from that mission.
“We are going to pick up season 18 with that mission that Gibbs was on, back in time. We’re in a pre-COVID world for a little while.”
It’s certainly a different way to do things, but if it benefits the quality of the show, then we’re all for it.
Binder also told TV Line that COVID-19 may not be on-screen until episodes that air on CBS in February 2021.
The network also dropped new key art, which includes Maria Bello, who plays Jack Sloane.
As previously reported, Bello is exiting after multiple episodes.
What are your thoughts on all the details?
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.