Rocky Carroll, Director Leon Vance of NCIS, has passed away at the age of 62 md20

Bringing back Ziva’s original NCIS replacement addresses concerns about a cancelation in the franchise. CBS’ longest-running scripted show is also its most expansive one. It has three active spinoffs during the 2025-2026 TV cycle, with NCIS: Tony & Ziva on Paramount+ joining NCIS: Sydney and NCIS: Origins. The flagship has had some struggles in recent years, but it appears to be bouncing back this year.

On the heels of Mark Harmon’s exit as Leroy Jethro Gibbs in NCIS season 19, the mothership underwent a slow but necessary rebrand. A few years into the process, it seems like the show is finally coming out of it, with its ratings finally bouncing back after declining in the last couple of seasons. However, while NCIS is likely coming back for season 24, a report from The TV Ratings Guide reveals that the numbers for its CBS spinoffs don’t seem to bode well for their future.

Vera Is The Perfect Person To Connect NCIS: Origins To The Flagship

One way, however, that could help increase NCIS: Origins‘ number and usher it to a possible renewal for next year involves Ziva’s original replacement in the MCRT — Vera Franks. Played by Roma Maffia in the mothership, the actor reprised the role for the first time since debuting 12 years ago as part of the monumental crossover with the prequel. NCIS: Origins season 2, episode 5, which was half of the said special TV event, posted the highest rating for the show thus far at 5.58 million viewers.

While the majority of that could be chalked up to Harmon’s physical appearance, Vera being the plausible connective tissue between NCIS and the period show, can usher viewers of the original to check out the offshoot. The character is played by Diany Rodriguez in NCIS: Origins and is the only character that the flagship can regularly bring back without spoiling anything about what lies ahead for Mike Franks’ Camp Pendleton team.

People who watch NCIS and learn more about Vera can start to be more interested in her history with the agency prompting then to check out NCIS: Origins. Granted that Gibbs mainly ties the two shows together, the chances of Harmon coming back to the flagship, even in a semi-regular arrangement, are unlikely. If anything, his comeback will be a one-time thing, and that’s simply not enough to bring people to his origins story.

How NCIS Can Properly Utilize Vera To Benefit Origins

CBS

For what it’s worth, Maffia already expressed her desire to return as Vera in NCIS. It’s only a matter of finding the perfect story for her. The key is to make her cameos as frictionless as possible, so being a consultant can work. From there, CBS can utilize her dropping Camp Pendleton anecdotes that would pique the interest of people, especially with regard to Gibbs and Lala’s romance. Like the audience, Timothy McGee and the MCRT are unaware of the romance, so they won’t pass up the opportunity to learn about it.

Another way that Vera can be useful in terms of storytelling is for her to be somewhat a proxy of Gibbs. This was actually already briefly done during Maffia’s NCIS season 23 return, when she lovingly told McGee that his old “boss” is very proud of him. She didn’t reveal details about knowing that or whether she’s in communication with Gibbs, and the show can keep it that way. However, it’s another path that the NCIS franchise can further explore to make the story he’s telling in Gibbs relevant to viewers.