NCIS: Los Angeles

Premise

NCIS: Los Angeles follows Special Agents Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) and Grisha Callen (Chris O'Donnell), undercover agents assigned to the Office of Special Projects, a special branch of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that specializes in undercover assignments. Sam is an ex-US Navy SEAL and former member of SEAL Team Six and dedicated family man. Callen is a former foster child who became a "legend" under the watchful eye of Operations Manager Henrietta "Hetty" Lange (Linda Hunt). At the start of the series, Sam, Callen, and Hetty are supported by Special Agent Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah), a hand-to-hand combat specialist, trained sniper and forensic whiz, rookie agent Dominic Vail (Adam Jamal Craig), Operational Psychologist Nate Getz (Peter Cambor) and Technical Operator Eric Beale (Barrett Foa). Vail is abducted by terrorists halfway through season 1 and, following a period of being held hostage, is killed during his rescue mission near the end of the season. Getz, meanwhile, enters training to become an agent in the back-half of the season, and is reassigned during season 2, returning for occasional guest appearances afterwards.

In season 2, LAPD Detective Marty Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen), after helping on several cases late in the prior season, joins the OSP team as a liaison between LAPD and NCIS, replacing Vail as Kensi's partner. He holds this position until departmental reforms in season 12 end up terminating it, after which he completes FLETC training and officially joins NCIS as an Investigator. Over the course of the series, Deeks and Kensi slowly evolve from partners to lovers, with the two marrying in season 10. The two then become foster parents to immigrant teenager Rosa in season 13 and are revealed to be expecting their own baby in the series finale. Also joining the team in season 2 is Intelligence Analyst Nell Jones (Renee Felice Smith), a brilliant agent whom Hetty hopes to have take her place eventually, and who forms a close relationship with Beale.

During season 3, Assistant Director Owen Granger (Miguel Ferrer), an old friend of Hetty's, is assigned to the team as oversight with her, and manages to develop a cordial relationship with the team despite a frosty start. In season 8, Granger falls ill with cancer, coinciding with Ferrer's real-life battle with the disease; following Ferrer's death, Granger is written to have fled the hospital while in recovery from a failed assassination attempt, and is later confirmed to have died from his illness during the following season.

In season 9, Executive Assistant Director Pacific (EADPAC) Shay Mosley (Nia Long) is assigned to the OSP after Hetty leaves on a personal mission to free an old colleague in Vietnam; the team later rescues her when the mission goes wrong. Mosley, meanwhile, sends the team on an unsanctioned mission to Mexico to rescue her son from her criminal ex-husband at the end of the season; while successful in its goals, the mission results in the death of Mosley's trusted assistant, the wounding of most of the rest of team, and the OSP being put under the microscope during the beginning of season 10; Mosley later accepts full responsibility, resigns and goes into hiding with her son to escape a cartel allied with her ex (whom she had killed during the mission).

Characters

Main

Chris O'Donnell as G. Callen, NCIS Special Agent in charge of the Office of Special Projects

Peter Cambor as Nate Getz (season 1; recurring seasons 2–8 and 13–14), Operational Psychologist, and later NCIS Special Agent

Daniela Ruah as Kensi Blye, NCIS Special Agent working for the Office of Special Projects

Adam Jamal Craig as Dominic Vail (season 1), NCIS Probationary Agent and Technical Specialist

Linda Hunt as Henrietta "Hetty" Lange (seasons 1–12; guest seasons 13–14), NCIS Supervisory Special Agent and Operations Manager of the Office of Special Projects

LL Cool J as Sam Hanna, NCIS Senior Special Agent and ex–Navy SEAL and second-in-command of the Office of Special Projects

Barrett Foa as Eric Beale (seasons 1–12), NCIS Technical Operator

Eric Christian Olsen as Marty Deeks (seasons 2–14; recurring season 1), NCIS Investigator and ex-LAPD detective who previously served as liaison officer for NCIS/LAPD

Renée Felice Smith as Nell Jones (seasons 2–12; guest season 14), NCIS Special Agent and Intelligence Analyst

Miguel Ferrer as Owen Granger (seasons 5–8; recurring seasons 3–4), NCIS Assistant Director

Nia Long as Shay Mosley (seasons 9–10), NCIS Executive Assistant Director for Pacific Operations (EAD-PAC) and ex-Secret Service Agent

Medalion Rahimi as Fatima Namazi (seasons 11–14; recurring seasons 10–11), NCIS Special Agent with the Office of Special Projects

Recurring

Rocky Carroll as Leon Vance (seasons 1–3 and 6), the director of NCIS. He initially spent a great amount of time "getting the new LA office up and running", but still returns to ensure the well-being of his agents. Carroll also appears on both NCIS (as a regular), and NCIS: New Orleans. He makes a seventh appearance in "Hunted".

Brian Avers as Mike Renko (seasons 1 and 3), an agent attached to NCIS's Los Angeles satellite office who often works with OSP. An undercover operative, Renko later reported directly to Owen Granger. The team were fond of him, so it came as a shock when he was gunned down during an operation gone awry in a revenge attack.

Kathleen Rose Perkins as Rose Schwartz (seasons 1–4), a Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. She often assists the team on their investigations. She is incredibly quirky and develops an affinity for Nate Getz, showing great romantic interest in the psychologist.

Ronald Auguste as Moe Dusa (seasons 1–2), a man whom Sam first came into contact with in Sudan. A "brother" to Sam, of sorts, he joins a terrorist group and assists in the kidnapping of Dom. Developing a conscience, Moe assists in Dom's escape. He is later found dead by the NCIS agents.

Vyto Ruginis as Arkady Kolcheck, a retired Russian operative. He is friends with Callen. He considers himself to be of great assistance to the NCIS team but often brings trouble in his wake. He has a daughter, Anastasia, whom he does not know very well.

Claire Forlani as Lauren Hunter (seasons 2–3), an NCIS Operations Manager and SSA. Taken in by Hetty as a teenager, Lauren later becomes an NCIS agent and succeeds Hetty for a short time as Special Agent in Charge of OSP. Initially adversarial, the team later warmed to Hunter. She was reassigned following Lange's return but was later kidnapped and murdered by the Chameleon. Her death has a lasting effect on Lange.

Indira G. Wilson/Aunjanue Ellis as Michelle Hanna aka "Quinn" (seasons 3–8), Sam Hanna's wife, Michelle, is a former deep-cover CIA operative. At the end of the eighth season, Michelle is kidnapped and murdered by Tahir Khaled in a vendetta against Sam.

Crossover

Scott Caan as Detective Sergeant Danny "Danno" Williams, member of the Hawaii Five-0 task force

Daniel Dae Kim as Detective Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly, member of the Hawaii Five-0 task force

Michael Weatherly as Anthony DiNozzo, NCIS Senior Field Agent

Pauley Perrette as Abby Sciuto, NCIS Forensic Specialist

Gary Cole as Alden Parker, NCIS Supervisory Special Agent

Wilmer Valderrama as Nick Torres, NCIS Special Agent

Vanessa Lachey as Jane Tennant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the NCIS: Hawaiʻi Field Office

Yasmine Al-Bustami as Lucy Tara, Junior field agent of NCIS: Hawaiʻi

Other

Louise Lombard as Lara Macy, a former Military Police Lieutenant and the Supervisory Special Agent of OSP, Macy was relieved of her position sometime between the pilot episode and the beginning of season one. Hetty remarks she was sent to Djibouti in retaliation for insubordination regarding budget, although the truthfulness of this is unknown. After a short time working with an NCIS satellite division, Macy is found dead in an NCIS episode, murdered as part of a vendetta against Washington Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Lombard was not picked up as a regular in the new series and the character was killed in the NCIS episode "Patriot Down".

Episodes

Production

Development

Development of the first spin-off of NCIS was reported in November 2008, when CBS announced plans for a new series set in Los Angeles that would be introduced through a two-part backdoor pilot during the sixth season of NCIS.

Series creator Shane Brennan conceived the project after succeeding Donald P. Bellisario as showrunner of NCIS. Brennan had previously created the character of Special Agent G. Callen as a CIA operative for an unrelated series that was never produced. When the opportunity arose to develop an NCIS spin-off, he adapted Callen into the lead character and built the series around him. Brennan envisioned the new series as having a contemporary, undercover-oriented tone inspired by Miami Vice, with Callen and former Navy SEAL Sam Hanna serving as dual protagonists. Unlike the flagship series, which centered on a traditional investigative team led by Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the spin-off focused on the Office of Special Projects (OSP), a covert division specializing in undercover operations, surveillance, and high-risk assignments.

The spin-off underwent several working titles during development. It was initially known as NCIS: Legend, referring to the title of the introductory NCIS episodes, while other proposed titles included OSP: Office of Special Projects, NCIS: OSP, and NCIS: Undercover.

The two-part NCIS episode "Legend", which aired on April 28 and May 5, 2009, served as the backdoor pilot for the series, mirroring the manner in which NCIS itself had been introduced through a two-part episode of JAG.

Following the success of the pilot, CBS officially ordered the series in May 2009 as part of its 2009–10 television schedule.

On January 20, 2023, CBS announced that the series would conclude with its fourteenth season. The series finale aired on May 21, 2023.

Casting

Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J were cast as Special Agents G. Callen and Sam Hanna, respectively, forming the series' central partnership. Their characters debuted in the NCIS backdoor pilot before returning as the leads of the spin-off.

The backdoor pilot also featured Louise Lombard as Special Agent Lara Macy, who headed the Office of Special Projects during its introduction. Although Macy served as a counterpart to Leroy Jethro Gibbs in establishing continuity between the two series, the character did not continue into the regular series after Brennan revised the concept to focus on the partnership between Callen and Hanna.

The principal cast for the series included Peter Cambor as Nate Getz, Daniela Ruah as Kensi Blye, Adam Jamal Craig as Dominic Vail, Barrett Foa as Eric Beale, and Linda Hunt as Operations Manager Henrietta "Hetty" Lange. Following the first season, Renée Felice Smith joined the cast as intelligence analyst Nell Jones, while Eric Christian Olsen, who had recurred as Marty Deeks, was promoted to the main cast beginning with the second season.

Over the course of its fourteen-season run, the series introduced numerous additions to its ensemble, including Miguel Ferrer, Medalion Rahimi, Caleb Castille, Gerald McRaney, and others in recurring and starring roles.

Filming

Principal photography for the backdoor pilot began in February 2009 before production transitioned to the weekly series following CBS's pickup.

Although set primarily in Los Angeles, the series was filmed largely at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, with extensive location shooting throughout Southern California. Exterior filming regularly took place in Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Pedro, Malibu, and other surrounding communities, allowing the production to showcase recognizable landmarks, beaches, ports, military facilities, and urban neighborhoods.

To reflect the clandestine nature of the Office of Special Projects, the production incorporated purpose-built standing sets, including the team's headquarters, operations center, interrogation rooms, armory, and garage, alongside frequent use of practical locations. The series combined location photography with studio work, practical effects, stunt sequences, and visual effects to depict military operations, counterterrorism missions, and undercover investigations.

Throughout its run, NCIS: Los Angeles maintained one of the largest production footprints among CBS dramas, with extensive stunt coordination, vehicle work, and action choreography becoming defining features of the series' visual style.

Lawsuit

In April 2011, NCIS creator Donald Bellisario sued CBS over NCIS: Los Angeles because of his contract which gave him "first opportunity" to develop a spin-off or sequel; the lawsuit was dismissed by a judge in June 2012. However, discussions continued between CBS and Bellisario, and in January 2013 the dispute was settled outside of court a week before it was set to go to trial; the terms of the agreement were not disclosed but were described as being amicable.

Broadcast

The series premiered in the United States on CBS on September 22, 2009. In Canada, the series aired on Global like its sister series. In Asia, the series airs on AXN, AXN, and TVOne Pakistan. In the UK the series premieres its latest season first on Sky 1, with subsequent runs and repeats then also broadcast on Channel 5. In the Netherlands the series airs on NET5. NCIS: Los Angeles airs on Network 10, 10 Bold, Paramount+ and TVH!TS (formerly TV1). As of December 2019, it airs on Fox Crime after TV H!TS was rebranded as Fox One in Australia. In Israel it airs on Hot zone and yes HBO. In Portugal the series airs on Fox. It was next broadcast on M6 in France, 13th Street in Denmark and Germany, and Rai 2 in Italy. It was broadcast on Fox in Russia and FX in Greece

Home media

The first nine seasons have been released on DVD in Regions 1, 2, and 4, and Season 1 was released on Blu-ray Disc in Region A. The first season DVD release includes the two-part pilot episode that aired as part of the sixth season of NCIS, which were also included on the Season 6 DVD of NCIS. All releases are distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment.

Reception

Critical reception

"Identity", the series' first episode, garnered 18.73 million viewers with a 4.4/11 share in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic and therefore won its timeslot. It was the second-most-watched show of the week, behind only the original NCIS.

Reviews for the show have been mixed. It has a score of 59/100 on Metacritic. According to Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times, "The crime is intriguing and multifaceted, its resolution requiring a nice balance of street smarts and lots of gunfire. But as with the original 'NCIS', the emphasis is on the characters of the team... Los Angeles, meanwhile, looks fabulous, a pleasing mixture of noir and gridlock, and there's an air of stability that's comforting in these uncertain times." The New York Daily News reviewer, David Hinckley, was more critical of the show saying that although "It all adds up to an hour of decent entertainment, and there's room for enough character development to give 'NCIS: Los Angeles' a personality of its own, ... a premiere episode shouldn't feel even a little like something we've already seen."

Tom Shales of The Washington Post felt that, "NCIS: Los Angeles gets the job done ... It's a procedural that follows strictly the established procedure, but it has likable characters, dislikable bad guys and the occasional flabbergasting shot of L.A." Robert Bianco of USA Today summarized it as a "serviceable hour that takes the NCIS formula—a light tone and a lot of banter wrapped around a fairly rudimentary investigatory plot—and transfers it to a special, undercover NCIS division in Los Angeles. Nothing more, but also nothing less." The Hollywood Reporter compared the show to The A-Team with "the same lighthearted approach to life-or-death situations. Maybe the biggest change is that 'NCIS: L.A.' achieves its inevitably favorable outcomes with a little more intellect and a little less testosterone." IGN stated that although "NCIS: Los Angeles doesn't exactly reinvent the police procedural... it's another above-average entry, aided by the fact that the people behind the show know what they're doing" and ultimately gave the episode a 7.7/10. On the website of IMDb, the series has a score of 6,8/10 on 57 000 critics.

Ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of the May sweeps.

Potential spin-off

On November 5, 2012, Deadline Hollywood reported the first news about a spin-off of NCIS: Los Angeles titled NCIS: Red. The new characters were introduced during a two-part episode of NCIS: Los Angeles. The spin-off was to feature a team of mobile agents, who travel around the country to solve crimes. This would have been the second successive spin-off in the NCIS franchise. However, on May 15, 2013, CBS confirmed that NCIS: Red was officially passed on and would not be moving forward. Scott Grimes reprised his potential spin-off role as NCIS: Red Agent Dave Flynn during the eighth season of NCIS: Los Angeles.

Adaptations

In August 2016, Titan Books published NCIS Los Angeles: Extremis, a novel by Jerome Preisler. Three months later, it was followed by NCIS Los Angeles: Bolthole, written by Jeff Mariotte. Both books contain original stories featuring the characters from the show.