The cancelation of NCIS: Hawai’i after season 3 is even worse when remembering this major unresolved Jane Tennant storyline. The series introduced the mother of Vanessa Lachey’s Jane in season 3, episode 7, “The Next Thousand,” when Tennant suffers a head injury that causes Jane’s major vision of being in a cabin in the woods with a mysterious woman who knows too much about the case she is working. After Jane wakes up from her vision, she later realizes that the woman is her mother, looking exactly the way she did the day she abandoned Jane.
NCIS: Hawai’i was introduced to the NCIS universe in 2021 and is currently airing its third (and now final) season on CBS. It was a shock when the network recently announced that NCIS: Hawai’i season 4 is not happening. The announcement devastated those anticipating more from Vanessa Lachey’s Jane and the rest of the NCIS: Hawai’i characters, who represent a diverse cast of characters and brought many exciting firsts to the franchise. With the series ending abruptly, the storylines that won’t be explored worsen the show’s cancelation.
NCIS: Hawai’i’s Cancelation Means It Won’t Explore Jane Tennant Being Abandoned By Her Mother
In an interview on The Talk,Vanessa Lachey recently revealed that she shares a similar origin to her NCIS character. Lachey told The Talk that NCIS: Hawai’i season 3, episode 7 was an emotional episode for her because it showed Tennant reuniting with her mother, who abandoned her when she was younger. Lachey then revealed that she was also abandoned by her own mother at a young age. She said her past was the original inspiration for that particular element of Tennant’s background, making it a personal storyline for her to explore.
Lachey revealed that when she read the script that delved into that side of her character, she wrote to the showrunners Christopher Silber, Jan Nash, and Matt Bosack to thank them for allowing that story to be told. She said it’s not about the “woe is me” side of her struggle but about how the challenges she faced brought strength to her and her character, empowering Tennant to be capable of her role as Agent-in-Charge of the Pearl Harbor NCIS office. Lachey attributed the struggle that her character has persevered to her success as an NCIS agent:
“I believe I am the woman I am today in spite of my mom leaving me, and I believe that Jane Tennant is the first female lead of Pearl because of her mother leaving her when she was younger.”
Canceling NCIS: Hawai’i before season 4 means that Lachey cannot revisit and evolve this powerful narrative for her character. It’s disappointing considering that Lachey made history with Jane Tennant as the first female lead for NCIS, and further expanding on her heroic journey could be an opportunity to empower women everywhere. Although the NCIS franchise has featured many powerful female characters throughout its over 1000 episodes, Jane’s character was unique in that she was a mother as well as a fighter. Lachey’s unique ability to portray this is why she was chosen for the role.
The NCIS Universe Will Miss Out On Other Opportunities By Canceling Its Most Diverse Spinoff
The development of Tennant’s female lead isn’t the only thing a canceled NCIS: Hawai’i will miss out on. Overall, the series represents some of the most diverse backgrounds in the NCIS universe. Along with representing the first top-billed female lead in an NCIS series, Lachey also represented the first Asian-American lead in the NCIS franchise. Not only was Lachey the first female lead in an NCIS series, but her character was also the first female Special Agent-in-Charge at NCIS Pearl Harbor, and mirroring this triumph in the show helped bring awareness to Lachey’s iconic role.
Along with representing the first top-billed female lead in an NCIS series, Lachey also represented the first Asian-American lead in the NCIS franchise.
The franchise also included LGBTQ+ representation with a relationship between characters FBI Special Agent Kate Whistler (Tori Anderson) and NCIS Junior Agent Lucy Tara (Yasmine Al-Bustami), with the characters starting their relationship in the very first episode of the series. That said, NCIS: New Orleans also featured an inclusive relationship between Special Agent Tammy Gregorio (Vanessa Ferlito) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah Lee (Meghan Ory). That said, the relationship between Gregorio and her girlfriend wasn’t featured much, and the spinoff has also been canceled, ending in 2021. The relationship between Kate and Lucy is a loss for the shared NCIS universe.
NCIS: Hawai’i Cancelation Leaves Flagship Alone With NCIS: Sydney And Mothership Spinoffs
NCIS: Hawai’i will join a heartbreaking trend for the franchise that sees spinoffs exit the franchise, leaving the NCIS franchise alone with its flagship series, its new expansion series, and NCIS: Sydney. That leaves the flagship with three rookie series, with NCIS: Sydney having just finished its first season and NCIS: Origins and the Tony & Ziva spinoff (tentatively titled NCIS: Europe) still upcoming. The franchise is seemingly experiencing two major trends: the shift to international storylines and a more serialized narrative, qualities that NCIS: Sydney and NCIS: Europe share.
The cancelation of NCIS: Hawai’i is a loss for the NCIS universe. Refreshing narratives driven by characters like Vanessa Lachey’s Jane Tennant and couples like FBI Special Agent Kate Whistler and NCIS Junior Agent Lucy Tara will be remembered. As the show is cut, the network prepares for new spinoffs, NCIS: Origins and the Tony & Ziva spinoff, and has renewed NCIS: Sydney and its mothership. A strong intersectional female lead is still represented in the franchise with Oliva Swann’s Special Agent Michelle Mackey in NCIS: Sydney, but the combination of elements that makes NCIS: Hawai’i great is irreplaceable.
