NCIS: Origins season 1 leaves Lala Domninguez’s fate in limbo, but a brand new CBS detail may have spoiled her future ahead of the spinoff’s sophomore year. The NCIS franchise has expanded with its very first period show tackling Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ first few years with the NIS.
While the NCIS: Origins cast features several familiar faces like Mike Franks and Vera Strickland, it also debuts fresh players in the universe — some of them, apparently, played an important role in the MCRT leader’s personal arc. That includes Lala, who has quickly became an integral part of the series.
Ahead of the spinoff, there were skepticism about how sustainable it could be, considering how the flagship already extensively tackled Gibbs’ backstory before Mark Harmon’s exit in NCIS season 19. However, the prequel was quick to quiet naysayers, with its storytelling being a perfect balance of revisiting its leading star’s past and delving into the personal pasts of his team.
One thing that CBS makes it clear from the get-go is that NCIS: Origins is about Lala. So, understandably, there’s massive interest in learning the fallout from her fatal accident in the season 1 finale.
NCIS: Origins Season 1 Finale Leaves Lala’s Fate Uncertain
Lala Doesn’t Look Good After That Car Crash
In the NCIS: Origins season 1, episode 18, “Cecilia,” Gibbs’ murder of Pedro Hernandez comes back to haunt him, as young Lara Macy comes in to investigate it. Aside from him, only Franks and Lala know about the crime, putting them in a difficult spot.
Throughout this crisis, Gibbs and Lala’s brewing romance reaches a fever pitch, but the pair’s moment is cut short when he confesses that he is sacrificing himself to save his co-workers. She comes around it in the final moments of the episode, but before she could talk to Gibbs, Lala gets into a car accident.
NCIS: Origins season 1 ends with her in the wreck, leaving viewers wondering whether she survives. Post-mortem interviews from the people involved in the show have kept things vague with regard to her future in the show. However, instead of waiting for new episodes of the prequel, a new detail may have already spoiled what’s next for Lala.
Mariel Molino’s Attendance Of CBS’ 2025-2026 Fall Schedule Suggests Lala’s Fate
It Would Be Odd For Molino To Attend If She Isn’t Coming Back
CBS has yet to announce NCIS: Origins season 2’s premiere date, but it’s likely going to be a couple of months from now. That said, a network-hosted event dropped a big clue about the resolution of the said cliffhanger. Lala actor Mariel Molino attended the CBS fall launch party back in May, heavily hinting that she would be back for season 2.
For context, the event is hosted by the broadcaster to promote their upcoming slate of programming. It is attended by almost every talent involved in its biggest shows, including NCIS: Origins and the flagship, since NCIS is already an institutional franchise for CBS. It wouldn’t really make sense for Molino to attend it if she going to continue playing Lala come September.
Backing up this hypothesis, NCIS season 21 finale ended with Jess Knight supposedly leaving MCRT. Throughout the subsequent off-season, questions if Katrina Law was leaving the procedural floated around, especially since there weren’t any clear indication that she was exiting the show. The actor also attended the event in 2024, and eventually returned as a full-time cast member when NCIS season 22 premiered.
Why It Makes Sense For Lala To Survive NCIS: Origins Season 1 Finale Car Crash
NCIS: Origins Is Supposedly Lala’s Story
Ultimately, aside from the accident being a thrilling end to its debut year, there really isn’t any long-term benefit to writing Lala this early in NCIS: Origins. Her and Gibbs’ brewing romance, tragic as may eventually be, is one of the main hooks of the prequel.
Meanwhile, her future fate and absence during the flagship remain as the franchise’s biggest mysteries. If CBS continues to renew NCIS: Origins, it doesn’t make sense that the period show will resolve all of this by killing her after just 1 season
