When NCIS comes back for its 23rd season next week, it will need to tackle the aftermath of a heartbreaking death. The end of season 22 saw Gary Cole’s character Alden Parker have his life spared by his nemesis, mob boss Carla, who is played by Rebecca De Mornay, however only to later find she seemingly killed his father instead. Now, when season 23 premieres on October 14, fans will get to see Alden mourn his father, with the support of his on-screen sister.
Gary’s on-screen sister, Navy Vice Admiral Harriet Parker, will be played by Nancy Travis, who is coming on under a guest starring role. Nancy is best known for The Vanishing, Three Men and a Little Lady, Greedy, So I Married an Axe Murderer, and most recently Sovereign as well as Grosse Pointe Society.
Speaking with TVLine about the addition of Nancy as Alden’s sister Harriet, executive producer Steven D. Binder first shared: “Family dynamics are forged [very early on]. The Alden Parker that we know and see now is not how Alden Parker was as a child. We’ve gotten into his history a little bit: he was a troubled kid, he was in juvie home, he stole things. And that’s the dynamic that his sister grew up with.”
“He was the bad kid, and she was the good kid, and they’re going to relive that between the two of them,” he went on, adding: “She’s this super squared-away admiral, and then you’ve got Alden Parker, who’s got this ‘bad kid’ seed, and those two are going to come to a head. And what’s funny about that is over Thanksgiving dinner is one thing; in the middle of a global crisis, the brother-sister bickering is very NCIS.”
As for how involved Rebecca will be as Carla — who blames Alden for the death of her son, since he died in a car accident after he informed him of his mother’s illegal activities — this season, Steven further shared: “We’re doing a two-parter [season premiere], and she will play a smaller part in the first one, but she will have a sizable role.”
“We were introduced to [Carla] as the head of the Kansas City mob and a real bad person. But if you go back to the core of her pain, it was the loss of her son, which of course is a hurt you never get over, and that’s what we’re going to find drives her, the loss of family. Hopefully she’ll be a bad guy who’s a little more nuanced and relatable on some level by the time we’re done with her.”
Back in July, Steven also opened up about how coming into the 23rd season, the show intends to prioritize the characters’ personal lives as storylines more than ever before. Speaking with TVLine about what viewers can expect from season 23, he said: “We really want to get to everybody in a big way. I know people always say, ‘I watch the show for the characters’ — that was always our thing — and I really want to make this a character-forward show in a way we haven’t seen before. So, if you’re invested in these people, this is going to be the season for you.”
The move is not unlike the direction of the Austin Stowell led prequel series NCIS: Origins, which premiered last year, and which focuses on a young Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the character Mark Harmon starred as on the franchise’s original show for close to two decades. Though certainly packed with action and drama, the show primarily focuses on giving fans an intimate glimpse into Gibbs’ early days as a special agent, and the personal events that shaped his role on NCIS.
