HOME / ENTERTAINMENT / TV

'NCIS' Season 18 Premiere Preview: Will Jack Sloane die? Here are the ways Maria Bello could exit the show

This shouldn't come as a surprise to fans as the show is no stranger to killing off beloved characters, say Caitlyn or even Ziva in the past

A new force of nature was unleashed into the lives of NCIS fans when the show introduced Jack Sloane (Maria Bello) some three seasons ago. But that was another time, and in recent news, Bello has announced she will be exiting the show.

Soon speculations ran rife with fans trying to sketch just how they would have to witness their beloved forensic psychologist part ways from the team run by Jethro Gibbs (Mark Hammon). A recent interview with showrunner Frank Cardea however leads us to believe that the exit won't be a happy ending for Sloane after all. 

This shouldn't come as a surprise to fans as the show is no stranger to killing off beloved characters, say Caitlyn or even Ziva in the past. Although Ziva was brought back by popular demand in the previous Season 17, the same can't be assured for Sloane, who if not more, has definitely grown close to the popularity Ziva had amassed on the show.

Perhaps why the show bosses think dire circumstances is the way to go for the character who was also just starting to bud a relationship with Gibbs. "When we’re trying to figure out how to exit a character, one thing we always ask is: 'What does that character deserve?'” Cardea told TVLine. "And the character of Sloane is a very strong character and a passionate character. So we’re going to really have her go on something worthy of that."

Speaking of something worthy, he also addressed the will-they-won't-they status of Sloane and Gibbs' romance, assuring that "ongoing wonderment about what’s going on between her and Gibbs" would also be resolved. From the two of them getting together to Sloane sacrificing herself for Gibbs, the possibilities of how the character might b granted death and shown out are endless.

The alternative to killing off Sloane would be making her leave to be united with Faith, her daughter. Sloane had given Faith up for adoption at birth, and it was only n Season 17 that we saw the girl reunite with her mother. The two had a deep heart to heart conversation and reconnected, but there's quite the high hance that Sloane might decide this is it for her career in crime and justice and take a former long sabbatical to grow her relationship with Faith.

The other alternative to Sloane dying is of course a transfer. Maybe she is sent to some other team, or some other branch of the NCIS - which would raise hopes of the sister shows 'NCIS: New Orleans' or 'NCIS: Los Angeles' absorbing Sloane as part of their team, but at this point, after Cardea's words of alarm, chances of Sloane appearing in the spinoffs look slim. 

'NCIS' Season 18 premieres this Tuesday, November 17, at 8 pm on CBS.