Note: This story contains spoilers from the “NCIS” Season 22 premiere.
“NCIS” saw its team break up for the summer, but a “super hardcore” mission in California brought everyone back together before the end of Season 22, Episode 1.
The Season 21 finale saw special agent Jessica Knight (Katrina Law) deciding whether to leave the team in D.C. for a new job in California. Monday’s premiere, titled “Empty Nest,” revealed that Knight had left after all, but a few months into the job she was already embroiled in a case with her old team leader Parker (Gary Cole) — a case that involved her taking a priest hostage.
A flashback revealed that Knight was helping Parker find Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama), who had gone missing after going undercover on a cartel job. A member of Knight’s new team was caught in the middle of the investigation, but it was the suspicion that the priest was in fact the head of the cartel keeping Nick hostage that landed Knight in a pickle. She asked Parker to seek the legal advice of a divorce attorney (played by “Nobody Wants This” actress Jackie Tohn), who ended up being involved in the case herself.
“As I was reading the script, that’s when I felt like an audience member. I just thought, ‘This is super hardcore and I love it,’” Law told TheWrap. “Ultimately, it’s things like this that brought her back to D.C. She loves this new job in California, but she’s an adrenaline junkie and loves living that life and being a field agent.”
Indeed after catching their perp, rescuing Nick and clearing up Knight’s name, the agent was offered an even better promotion in California. But she chose to decline in order to return to her old job with Parker and the rest of the team in D.C.
As evidenced in the Season 22 premiere, Dr. Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) still has complicated feelings about Knight’s move. Her return sets up the opportunity for she and Jimmy to talk through the issues that led to the end of their relationship, with Law teasing that an “awkward” conversation is coming in Episode 4.
Below, TheWrap spoke with Law about keeping the secret of Knight’s future through the summer, her future with Jimmy and more:
TheWrap: What a great way to kick off the season and resolve the cliffhanger of Knight’s job opportunity in L.A. How soon after the finale last season were you clued in on Jess’ future — and your own — on the show?
Law: I knew I was never leaving. It was kind of fun, in a really sadistic kind of way, to watch the Internet meltdown about that and the speculations that were going on. A couple people were already recasting me.
The stakes are high from the start with Knight involved in this hostage situation where she is the kidnapper! What was your reaction to the premiere when you saw the script?
I was very curious as to how they were going to get the team back together. I knew I was coming back, but I didn’t know how they were going to make that happen … so as I was reading the script, that’s when I felt like the audience member where I’m going, “Oh this is super hardcore and I love it.”
Ultimately, it’s things like this that brought her back to D.C. She thinks, “I love this new job and love California. My new React agents are amazing.” But ultimately, she’s an adrenaline junkie and loves living that life and being a field agent … as stressful as that is, and it takes a toll on you, that’s how she lives and that’s how she thrives.
It’s a very specific type of personality that can do that and still stay sane. And I think she was actually starting to go a little insane, being so safe and cautious. When she saw Parker’s face show up, I think all of that kind of clicked.
Moving forward, is there room for Knight to have any regret for turning down the promotion?
At the start of the season, we find Knight at what I want to call the beginning stages of a very big personal growth spurt. For years now, she’s been happily cruising in the shadow of her father, who was a very high-powered figure within NCIS. But now she’s decided to step into the sunlight. I think there’s freedom and the strength that Knight finds from making her own career decisions and personal decisions that are 100% her own. That also means that all of her mistakes, all of her regrets, all of her pitfalls, anything that she does wrong, are now also 100% on her shoulders.
So yes, she might have regrets. but I think ultimately she knows that even if she does, she needs to do what she wants and needs to do for her mental health now, more than anything else.
Knight and Jimmy didn’t get to interact because she’s not back yet, but he sure seems eager to reunite, so we know there’s more coming there. What can you tease about where that relationship goes next?
So the fun part about the relationship is that we’re going to handle it in true “NCIS” style, which is to not handle it.
So in Episode 4, the two of them come to a realization that in all this time that Knight’s been back, they haven’t been alone together and haven’t had any talks or chats about anything. They’ve both been acting like everything is fine and everything is great, or at least trying to, and they finally get put into a position where they’re alone together and they cannot exit that situation. So all of a sudden they’re like, ‘Oh, maybe we need to have this chat.’ It is frank, it’s heartbreaking, it’s heartwarming, it’s awkward and it’s everything that I think the audience will want to see.
The other big figure in Knight’s life is her father, who will surely have a lot to say about all of these developments. Will we get to see him soon?
We’ve talked about having him back. So Russell Wong, who played my father (special agent Charge Feng Zhao), is amazing, and we had such great chemistry together and the audience really responded to him. So we’re hopeful that he’ll come back and play with us. There’s a lot of story to be told there. I think Knight’s family is quite hysterical.
I would love to somehow be able to go on a mission with my dad, even though he retired, or maybe get roped into one somehow.
We also see the beginning of a potential new rivalry between the DOJ and NCIS this season, which gets more complicated when the new big bad from the DOJ is hired as new NCIS deputy director over McGee (Sean Murray). What can you tease about how he will shake things up?
He’s already started to shake things up. McGee’s senses, which are usually pretty spot on, have definitely honed in on him and I’m not sure how it’s going to play out. But I’m pretty sure it’s not going to end well for him somehow, some way.
It’s always hard to have somebody within your own department knowing that he’s a big bad because, especially when they’re higher ups … but I think it’ll be up to the NCIS team to try to gather as much evidence as they can to take the big bad down.
The show is back for a full season this year. What can you tease about where we go from here?
It’s so nice to be back to normal. Last season was so harsh just because of the strike, not only for the cast and crew but also for our fans. I feel like a lot of them feel like they got robbed with just 10 episodes, especially after 22 years of consistency. So it’ll be nice to give them back what they love and give it to them for the full season. Hopefully with the addition of “Origins,” which is turning out to be a great show, and “NCIS” coming on right before it’s going to be one whole night of “NCIS” where the fans just tune in for a couple of hours and just enjoy being a part of our world.
“NCIS” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT and streams the next day on Paramount+.
