Spoilers ahead… for the 15th season of NCIS: Los Angeles that never actually aired.
Fans of NCIS: LA got a welcome jolt of nostalgia when LL Cool J’s Sam Hanna dropped into NCIS for a guest appearance—but he didn’t just show up for the case of the week. Sam came armed with long-awaited updates on the NCIS: LA crew and dropped several bombshells that had fans doing double takes.
The first surprise? Sam is no longer an active NCIS agent. After the devastating loss of his elite team during the NCIS: Hawai’i Season 3 crossover, he requested a leave of absence. His next move was unexpected: trading the battlefield for Capitol Hill. He’s now in D.C., navigating the political minefield and using his voice to advocate for critical military interventions—armed not with weapons, but with a laser pointer and PowerPoint slides.
As one congressman scoffed, Sam’s causes were dismissed as “two-bit squabbles halfway around the world.” But by the end of the episode, that same politician was singing a different tune after being confronted with evidence linking him to a corrupt defense contractor. Sam may be out of the field, but he’s still in the fight—just in a different uniform.
But the real fan-service came in the form of NCIS: LA lore. When the show ended, Sam and Callen had seemingly been dispatched on a mysterious “side project” in Morocco—courtesy of a certain long-lost mentor. That mission turned out to be anything but ordinary. Instead of finding Hetty Lange, they ran into some familiar faces: Nell (Renée Felice Smith), Nate (Peter Cambor), Sabatino (Erik Palladino), and “the new guy,” played by Chris O’Donnell’s real-life son, Chip.
Though Hetty herself remains missing, her presence lingers, and her storyline clearly isn’t finished. These teases have sparked new hope among fans that the NCIS: LA universe could still have more stories to tell—whether through guest arcs, cameos, or even that long-hoped-for movie.
Sam’s surprise visit wasn’t just a nostalgic cameo—it was a window into the lives of old friends we still miss and a reminder that, in the NCIS world, unfinished business always finds a way to surface.
