'NCIS' Season 18: Top cameos and shock exits to watch out for when CBS procedural returns after Covid-19 break
After a slightly shorter Season 17, cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic, CBS' long withstanding procedural 'NCIS' is finally about to dish out the remaining episodes as part of its upcoming Season 18. Even with fans not getting the Season 17 finale that the show bosses had initially planned, the episode that was turned into a makeshift finale was made even more spectacular thanks to a cameo by Christopher Lloyd. The veteran actor played the role of a Navy vet who wanted his ashes scattered across the USS Arizona as he had served on it during the Pearl Harbor bombings.
It is these sentimental and touching storylines that have always kept the NCIS fanbase so wooed and glued to the show for almost two decades now, and surely Season 18 won't be any different. But amid all the guest appearances we will get to treat ourselves with, there are some shocking exits to encounter too. This is a developing list as CBS is yet to announce a line up for Season 18 cameos, so watch this space for more updates. As for now, here's who is coming and who is going when NCIS returns with Season 18 in November 2020.
Joe Spano
Listed as part of the season premiere episode, Spano will play the role of FBI Special Agent Tobias C Fornell in Season 18 Episode 1, titled 'Sturgeon Season'. According to the official synopsis of the episode, "Gibbs and Fornell attempt to track down the leader of a drug ring who supplied drugs to Fornell's daughter. Also, the team deals with the case of a missing cadaver from the NCIS autopsy room." Spano has previously appeared on the show in the same role and is one of the guest stars whose cameos have been eagerly anticipated through the years since 2003. You may remember Spano as Lt Henry Goldblume from 'Hill Street Blues', and interestingly enough, also as the original voice of Pasqually the Chef from Chuck E Cheese!
Margo Harshman
Joining Spano in the list of guest stars who have emerged as fan-favorites for the cameos will be Harshman, reprising her role of Delilah Fielding, wife of Timothy McGee, played by series regular Sean Murray. Delilah was first introduced all the way back in Season 11, after which she had become a steadily recurring character every season. It was only in Season 17 that we did not see Delilah at all, as she was absent for the entirety of it. Delilah was last seen in Season 16. Speaking to Express, creator Frank Cardea has confirmed a whole McGee and Delilah-focused episode. Fans are to find out more about McGee's personal character, along with an episode that revolves strictly around Delilah. "It’s unfortunate, one of the episodes we didn’t get to shoot was a McGee-Delilah episode," Cardea had shared with the outlet earlier when Season 17 was cut short due to the pandemic, promising: "So that’ll be shot early on next year."
Omar Lopez
It has been a forever tradition for the 17-year-old procedural to have real-life 'NCIS' director Omar Lopez star in a blink-and-you-miss-it type cameo every season. In Season 17, Lopez appeared in the finale 'The Arizona' as one of the people lead character Jethro Gibbs (Mark Hammon) addresses during the rush of the crime-solving chase. In an interview with TV Line, Cardea discussed the cameo saying "You may have noticed in the middle of the episode, Mark walks through the squad room and there’s an agent walking by and he goes, ‘Omar, I haven’t got time!’ and he keeps walking. Well, Omar Lopez is the newly installed director of the actual NCIS, for real. It’s been a tradition with the show, going back to Season 1, that when the director of the agency comes to visit, we have him walk through the squad room, hand off a coffee or whatever." There's no way Season 18 will miss out on it, will it?
Maria Bello
With Jacqueline Sloane's arc coming to a stop this season, Bello's role in Season 18 ends midway. Shocking as the exit might be, not many know that when Bello had joined at the beginning of Season 15, she had joined with a three-year contract. She is returning this time as Jack, although that doesn't guarantee a Jack and Gibbs romance flourishing, despite Season 17 giving off strong hints of the two finally getting it on. Season 18 will have Bello only for eight episodes, just to wrap up her arc. But here's hoping she returns in future episodes because of how beloved the character had become in the short time she had been on the show.
'NCIS' Season 18 will premiere on November 17 at 8/9c only on CBS.
