A blast from the past is coming back to NCIS. Brian Dietzen — who has played Dr. Jimmy Palmer since Season 1 — confirmed that least one former character is set to return in Season 22 and the episode is going to cause fans to “lose their s—t.”
“There are,” Dietzen told TV Insider when asked if any past cast members were returning to NCIS in Season 22. “In fact, I just worked with one, and I’m not allowed to tell you, but I’ll tell you it’s someone from NCIS‘s past, and it’s going to be fantastic, and I think people are really going to lose their s—t.”
Who’s coming back to NCIS?
While Dietzen didn’t confirm which NCIS cast member was returning, there is a long list of former agents who could make an appearance in Season 22, including Mark Harmon’s Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Seasons 1 – 19), Sasha Alexander’s Special Agent Caitlin Todd (Seasons 1 – 2), Michael Weatherly’s Senior Field Agent Anthony DiNozzo (Seasons 1 – 13), Pauley Perrette’s Forensic Specialist Abby Sciuto (Seasons 1 – 15), Cote de Pablo’s Special Agent Ziva David (Seasons 3 – 11), and Emily Wickersham’s Special Agent Eleanor Bishop (Seasons 11 – 18).
If we had to put our bets on which character was returning, however, it would be on either DiNozzo or Ziva, who are set to lead their own NCIS spinoff for Paramount Plus, NCIS: Tony & Ziva. Paramount Plus hasn’t announced a release date for the series yet, however, it’s expected to premiere in 2025, so it would make sense for either Weatherly or de Pablo (or both) to make an appearance on NCIS Season 22 to promote the spinoff and get DiNozzo and Ziva on fans’ minds before the series officially premieres.
Dietzen was also asked by TV Insider about whether the returning cast member could be Weatherly or de Pablo, to which he responded with a laugh: “That guy and that gal whom I love so much.”
Dietzen also told the site that he’s been texting with Weatherly ever since he and De Pablo finished filming NCIS: Tony & Ziva in the Canary Islands and Budapest. He also confirmed that Palmer won’t appear in the spinoff’s premiere season. “From what I hear, they had an absolutely wonderful time and I cannot wait to see it. And if Jimmy were able to pop up on the screen there, I would love for it to happen, but I’m afraid to say it’s not going to happen in their first season,” he said.
NCIS executive producer Steven D. Binder previously told TV Insider in December 2024 that there’s a chance of any character to come back, it just matters the timing. “With a long-running show, we think in longer terms than we might normally; if we were wondering if we were going to come back, all these things would be happening in the next five episodes, but we’re thinking a little longer. So if not this season, the next,” he said.
If Weatherly and de Pablo aren’t the cast members returning to NCIS, another option could be Harmon, who narrates and executive produces NCIS’ new spinoff, NCIS: Origins, which follows a younger version of Gibbs played by Austin Stowell. Given that Harmon is still a big part of the NCIS family, it wouldn’t be hard for him to come back to NCIS for a quick cameo.
One cast member we’re not betting on is Perrette who confirmed she would “never again” return to acting (let alone NCIS) in an interview with Hello magazine in 2024. “I’m not ungrateful for the benefits that it gave to me,” she said. “At this point in my life I have this deep need to find authenticity in everything, and being an actor, especially at certain points in my life, was a great escape; it’s like a drug because I didn’t have to be me, I could be somebody else. My character didn’t have all of the problems that I was having.”
NCIS streams on Paramount Plus.
