NCIS: Hawai’i’s cancelation is disappointing in itself, but it also indirectly ruins NCIS’ 1000th episode’s most emotional scene. While CBS’ longest-running procedural franchise is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon, it has recently lost a major pillar when the network officially pulled the plug on NCIS: Hawai’i. The decision has been controversial, with people involved in the series candidly revealing that they are blindsided by it. When it wraps up at the end of season 3, it will be the third NCIS spinoff to cap off its run, following NCIS: New Orleans and NCIS: Los Angeles.
Despite its popularity, CBS took a while to renew the NCIS mothership, although it was already a given that the network wouldn’t pull the plug on it. No official reason was given as to why the renewal took a while, but this eased concerns about NCIS: Hawai’i also being in the bubble. Unfortunately, while CBS ordered NCIS season 22, guaranteeing its return for the 2024-2025 season, it officially set the end of Jane Tennant’s stint at the Hawai’i field office.
Canceling NCIS Hawai’i Cheapens Vance’s 1000th Episode Speech
The NCIS’ overall 1000th episode aptly titled “A Thousand Yards” tackles a contained story that looks back at the flagship’s rich history. The case has connections to the very first one that Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ team worked on in 2003. The episode is chock-full of references highlighting the agency’s purpose, and while there isn’t a crossover, Tennant makes a cameo in a couple of ways. Firstly, through a brief call with Nick Torres for an update on what’s happening in the agency, and secondly, through archival footage during director Leon Vance’s emotional speech to his son.
To honor the ever-evolving franchise that is bigger than the flagship project, NCIS’ 1000th episode features a montage of several of the best moments of the universe. Aside from Gibbs’ original team. it also includes shots of characters from spinoffs, including NCIS: Hawai’i’s Tennant and Ernie Malik. Highlighting how integral the offshoots are to NCIS, Vance says that “the only way light can grow is by passing it on.” Now, those words seem empty and meaningless in light of the cancelation of NCIS: Hawai’i, which is the only remaining Stateside spinoff of the franchise.
Why NCIS’ Upcoming Spinoffs Can’t Replace NCIS: Hawai’i
Although there are a couple of NCIS spinoffs in the works, none of them can fill the void that NCIS: Hawai’i will leave once it fully ends. Currently, there are two known offshoots that are in various stages of development. The first one is the Gibbs prequel series titled NCIS: Origins, which will tackle the character’s earliest years in the agency, and the second one is Tony DiNozzo Jr. and Ziva David’s Paramount+ show that is currently nicknamed NCIS: Europe.
NCIS: Hawai’i, on the other hand, is a true expansion of the evolving universe, with a string of fairly new characters that still have a lot of stories left to tell.
Both these, however, will feature already explored characters from the flagship series, and while their new endeavors will reveal new things about them, they are still about established characters. NCIS: Hawai’i, on the other hand, is a true expansion of the evolving universe, with a string of fairly new characters that still have a lot of stories left to tell. Unfortunately, the NCIS franchise cut them off before those are fully explored.
