NCIS season 23 is getting ready to take CBS by storm, and as it brings a whole new round of storylines into the mix for the MCRT, it’s clear that after 8 seasons, the show is finally reshuffling its hierarchy behind the scenes. NCIS season 23 will bring all of the previous season’s MCRT members back into the fold, but it feels like a shift for the show.
After years of change from NCIS, viewers have come to know and enjoy the dynamics at play on the team. With the MCRT led by Agent Alden Parker (Gary Cole) after nearly 20 seasons of Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) calling the shots, NCIS has settled into a new groove. With different leadership have come different dynamics, shifting viewers’ perspectives and expectations.
While NCIS’ agents have all been part of the team for years, viewers have struggled to see the way each team member fits within the MCRT. Though team members Timothy McGee (Sean Murray), Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama), Jessica Knight (Katrina Law), and Kasie Hines (Diona Reasonover) have all become familiar for viewers, from the previews of NCIS season 23, it appears things have changed within the teams’ makeup.
The Shift That Began In NCIS Season 15 Is Finally Paying Off
The Shows Creative Team Reboot Sparked Something New
Although most viewers think of the season that changed the show as NCIS season 19, the shifting tides actually started a few years prior. NCIS season 15, the first of the series without longtime showrunner Gary Glasberg, who’d passed the season prior. With a new direction in the day-to-day of the series, things began to shift in the way the stories were told.
As NCIS season 14 had already introduced Nick and Ellie Bishop (Emily Wickersham), the next season continued to bring them into the fold and shifted away from featuring long-time characters like Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), who’d left the cast. Shifting NCIS’ identity wasn’t easy, but the series began to make gradual changes that allowed the series to be more balanced with crime and character.
Parker’s Team Leadership Is Redefining NCIS’ Power Balance
There’s More For The Team To Do As A Unit
After Gibbs left the series during NCIS season 19, even more shifted for the show, and the groundwork that had begun to take shape during NCIS season 15 was finally able to move further ahead. When Cole came into play as Parker, the shift in NCIS was felt even more, and though some struggled, others enjoyed the way the series balanced its stories.
Parker’s story in the upcoming NCIS season 23 premiere is likely to extend through the season, and by keeping it moving, it’s clear NCIS has shuffled its hierarchy when it comes to storytelling. By building a more cohesive team and prioritizing character driven story, NCIS has worked hard to ensure that it’s keeping a familiar shape, but moving toward a modern era.
After eight seasons of quiet restructuring, NCIS has found a hierarchy that feels both new and earned as a show that finally knows how to lead without a single leader in the driver’s seat.
