NCIS Showrunner Dishes on Dealing with This Character’s Absence
By Movieguide® Contributor
Dying to know how the NCIS team is dealing with a certain team member’s departure? We’ve got all the answers.
Executive producer Steven D. Binder recently revealed to TV Insider Special Agent Jessica Knight and Chief Medical Examiner Jimmy Palmer are still adjusting “into the new normal of not being together” after Palmer broke up with Knight following her California job offer.
“Jimmy is dating,” Binder continued. “We’re going to learn a little bit about that. He’s been busy as a single man; that will make an appearance in the most inopportune time. [In the premiere] Knight encounters a very serious problem involving her skills as a hostage negotiator. There’s certain things you never do, and that’s what [she] does. As a result, her and Jimmy are going to get a chance to have part two of the conversation that we didn’t see in the finale.”
He shared that, while Knight and Palmer are both still hurting from the breakup, “they’re behaving” while they work together.
Binder also revealed how Torres is handling Knight’s absence.
“Poor Torres. Every time he gets a family member, they leave,” the producer shared. “He goes undercover with some bad people and it doesn’t work out well. He gets into a lot of trouble. He’s on this road of undercover loner, not really having relationships. Where does that road lead?”
Binder continued, “Knight [leaving] inspired a chain reaction of events. McGee applies for a deputy director position in Colorado to move up in the world. A lot of the fans have wondered why he hasn’t done so. It’s an open position and it will be filled by the end of the [premiere] episode. Kasie’s smarting a little bit from Knight being gone. Papa Bird Parker has an empty nest in the squad room. He wants his team back but very quickly gets embroiled in something that Knight gets into trouble with.”
“This case will bring our team back together on one level, not necessarily ‘yay, we’re all back here in NCIS,’ but paths will cross,” Binder promised.
In an interview with Us Weekly, Binder said Season 22’s motto is “take it to the limit.”
“A lot of things were resolved, and some new things were opened up, some character cliffhangers, but we wanted to resolve the case,” he said. “Cliffhangers are titillating but also aggravating. We were less aggravating and gave the audience some peace.”
The rest of the NCIS crew are giving some hints about what fans can expect from upcoming episodes, too.
Wilmer Valderrama, who plays Torres, told The Hollywood Reporter, “I think [the fans] always worry. The fans are so passionate about NCIS. I would say this: That in season 22, the contribution these writers have done to the show is just invaluable.”
“We’re playing a lot more with personal journeys for our characters,” he continued. “This season will be a little bit more humorous, definitely a lot more emotionally driven for our lead characters, and perhaps — perhaps — they’re going to be in major danger.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Season 22 of NCIS:
Season 21 of NCIS left fans on the edge of their seats with a huge cliffhanger, and the writers don’t plan on holding anything back in Season 22
“Season 21 ended with a bang as an intense showdown with a perp was overshadowed when Special Agent Jessica Knight (Katrina Law) was asked to fill the role of Camp Pendleton’s new REACT teacher,” Movieguide® reported. “Though this role meant saying goodbye to the NCIS team she has grown to love, along with putting her relationship with Jimmy Palmer in danger, she had to say yes for personal reasons.”
While what Knight and Palmer’s relationship will look like is still under wraps, Binder did reveal some of the things he hopes to see in the new season.
“I would like to see some unusual pairings, characters that aren’t usually together finding ways to put them together,” he said. “I think that would be interesting for the actors for sure, for the writers, and hopefully, for the audience. I’m just riffing now, but you don’t usually see the director and Jimmy Palmer in an episode together, things like that.
“The second thing I want to do is…there’s the cliché where an actor says, ‘My character wouldn’t do that,’ I want to do that — extreme things, not just like, ‘My character wouldn’t eat pasta,’” he continued. “I want to put these characters in situations that make them do things they wouldn’t normally do but because of the situation we see them doing it. That would also be interesting to see and to write and to play.”
