Will This Character Return for NCIS: ORIGINS Second Season?

Published: August 8, 2025

By Gavin Boyle

The NCIS: ORIGINS Season 1 finale left Special Agent Lala Dominguez’s fate in question, so as the second season approaches, fans are as eager as ever to know if she will return.

Austin Stowell, who plays young Gibbs, and Mariel Molino, who plays Agent Dominguez, recently appeared at a screening of POINT BREAK together, and in an Instagram post, Stowell teased the future of their characters. “I know this much…she doesn’t die at the end of POINT BREAK,” Stowell wrote.

The cast members haven’t spilled anything when it comes to Agent Dominguez’s future

Molino previously shared that she would love to continue working on the show, but the NCIS franchise has also been known to end character arcs sooner than fans expect.

“I hope she comes back,” Molino said. “I hope that she is alive, but who knows. NCIS has taken big swings before with characters and their futures, so it’s tough to say. You’ll have to tune in for season two.”

“We all signed up for a show that would be taking risks. It wouldn’t be like a lot of other shows on CBS,” Stowell added, joking, “and, you know, if we have to lose somebody, so be it.”

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The intrigue into the fate of Agent Dominguez highlights how NCIS: ORIGINS differs from NCIS shows of the past, as it focuses much more on the characters than the procedural aspect of the show.

“Gina [Lucita Monreal] and I are just in love with these characters, and this show is much more of a character study than it’s a procedural,” said showrunner David J. North. “So, when it feels like it’s the right time to tell a story of that character, that’s what we’ve been doing. We don’t really set out to say, ‘Okay, this episode has to be about Mary Jo,’ [it is] just if it feels right.”

At the same time, Monreal and North have worked hard to make the show accessible for both old fans and newcomers to the NCIS universe. With over 1,000 episodes now in the franchise, they wanted to include easter eggs without making it necessary to have watched previous shows.

“We really made a point to create a show for both our fans, which we adore and are so grateful for, but also for new viewers,” Monreal explained. “So, we really tried to strike a balance between those two groups of people so that you don’t have to have seen any episodes of the mothership NCIS to understand and invest in ORIGINS. But at the same time, we remain true to canon and try to give those Easter eggs to our existing fans as well.”

Season two of NCIS: ORIGINS will premiere on Tuesday, Oct. 15 following the season premiere of NCIS.

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