The NCIS franchise has changed so much since 2021 that it is nearly unrecognizable. The crime procedural franchise began with the flagship show of the same name, which officially premiered on CBS on September 23, 2003. However, the show was originally introduced as a backdoor pilot during season 8 of JAG, which itself ran for 10 seasons between 1995 and 2005.
Since then, the JAG spinoff has spawned spinoffs of its own. The NCIS shared universe now includes a wide range of shows exploring different locales. Some have already run for quite a few seasons alongside the flagship show, which has remained consistently on the air for 21 seasons at the time of writing, becoming the third-longest-running primetime scripted live-action show currently on the air in the U.S. During that time, much has changed in the franchise, but never more so than in the past three years.
2 NCIS Spinoffs Started In The Last 3 Years – And 2 More Are Confirmed
One of the major changes that has taken place in the franchise since 2021 is the addition of two new spinoffs. Hawai’i kicked off with season 1 in 2021, becoming the fourth spinoff overall and the first not to be preceded by a backdoor pilot on one of the other shows. That was followed by the premiere of Sydney in 2023, another spinoff without a backdoor pilot. Both shows are still ongoing, and NCIS: Sydney season 2 has already been renewed for the 2024-2025 season.
On top of those spinoffs, two additional shows in the universe have been confirmed. The first is NCIS: Origins, which is the franchise’s first prequel, focusing on a younger version of Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs, as played by Austin Stowell. Stowell will be joined by Kyle Schmid as a younger version of Gibbs’ mentor and partner Mike Franks, the character played on the original show by Muse Watson.
The second upcoming show is the Tony and Ziva spinoff, which will focus on the characters played by Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo. Although both stars took long hiatuses from the flagship show, their storyline has recently been resurrected. Though de Pablo has not been seen on the show since she made a recurring appearance in season 17, Weatherly has returned in a guest star capacity for season 21 in a new storyline that seems to be setting up the spinoff.
2 NCIS Spinoffs Have Ended In The Last 3 Years
Although the NCIS franchise has expanded a great deal in the last three years, that has been complemented by a similar contraction. This began in 2021 when the show’s second spinoff, New Orleans, went off the air after seven seasons. Reportedly, ratings for the show had begun to slump, leading to it becoming the first show in the universe to go off the air other than JAG, which is generally not considered to be part of the franchise proper.
This was quickly followed by the cancellation of the NCIS franchise’s first spinoff, Los Angeles, in 2023. That show had run for even longer, as it premiered in 2009, five years before New Orleans season 1. Overall, it ended up lasting for 14 seasons total and is the second-longest-running show in the franchise at the time of writing. While CBS has generally been tight-lipped about both cancellations, the end of the latter show reportedly came about because of budgetary considerations.
NCIS Has Had A Lot Of Its Own Changes
The franchise’s tendency for sweeping changes in the past three years has affected the flagship show as well. Perhaps the most important were huge cast shakeups, including the departure of longtime star Mark Harmon, who played Gibbs for more than 400 episodes before exiting the show in season 19. This was followed in September 2023 by the death of David McCallum, who had played Ducky Mallard since season 1. They leave behind Sean Murray’s Tim McGee as the only character currently on the show who has been present since season 1, though he didn’t appear in the first six episodes.
This is the shortest season that NCIS has ever aired…
The show’s schedule also experienced a major shakeup following the dual 2023 Hollywood strikes, in which writers and then actors took to the picket lines to fight for fair pay. The strikes, which overlapped in the middle, spanned the period between May 2 and November 9, 2023, preventing production for the Fall season from kicking off as usual. The ongoing season 21 was reduced to just 10 episodes, kicking off later than usual, in February 2024. This is the shortest season that NCIS has ever aired, as the show typically runs between 19 and 24 episodes per season.
The previous shortest season for the flagship show was season 18, which ran for 16 episodes. The season had production complications after season 17 was cut short with 20 episodes amid global shutdowns during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Like many shows, production recommenced when it was deemed safe for the cast and crew to return to set, but increased safety considerations likely led to a compromised production schedule and a higher budget than previous seasons.
The Future Of NCIS Is Very Exciting
In spite of all of this change, the future of the franchise is looking brighter than ever. In fact, the franchise is preparing to air the 1000th episode across all of the shows under its umbrella. The special episode, which will air as part of NCIS season 21 on April 15, is set to feature crossover characters from both the Los Angeles and Hawai’i spinoffs. Because this episode takes place in the middle of multiple ongoing seasons, the franchise will quickly balloon beyond 1000 episodes.
Overall, the NCIS universe has never looked more robust. In 2021, there were only three shows in the franchise, but at the time of writing there are now seven. If the flagship show and Hawai’i are both renewed for future seasons, five of those shows could even be airing concurrently. Despite cast shakeups, cancellations, and other major changes, the franchise has more than proven its ability to stand the test of time and likely last for many years to come.
