Is Katrina Law Leaving NCIS? Knight’s Fate Revealed
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Ever since the Season 21 finale, fans have had one question on their minds: Is Katrina Law leaving NCIS?! The NCIS Season 21 finale cliffhanger seemed to set the stage for Law and her character Jess Knight’s exit, but what do the writers really have planned? Fans seem to have cracked the code.
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NCIS is CBS’ drama series following the personal and professional lives of a team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (also known as the NCIS), a federal law enforcement a part of the United States Department of the Navy that investigates criminal activities involving the Navy and the United States Marine Corps, as well as their families. The series, which premiered in 2003, is part of a multi-show franchise also including NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Hawai’i, NCIS: Sydney, and the upcoming NCIS: Origins.
Law joined NCIS as Special Agent Jessica Knight as a guest in Season 18. She was promoted to a series regular in Season 19. However, after just two seasons as a full-time cast member, Law’s time on the series seemed to be over in the NCIS Season 21 finale, which saw Knight accept a job offer that would take her away from the team — and her boyfriend, Dr. Jimmy Palmer — for good. But is Katrina Law leaving NCIS actually and what happened to Jess Knight? Keep reading for what we know about if Katrina Law is leaving NCIS for real.
Is Katrina Law leaving NCIS?
Law sparked speculation she was leaving NCIS in the Season 21 finale, “Reef Madness,” in which NCIS Director Leon Vance offers her character, Jessica Knight, a job as Chief React Training Officer at Camp Pendleton. At the end of the finale, Knight takes the job, leading viewers to wonder whether the character and Law were leaving NCIS for good.
So is Katrina Law leaving NCIS? At the time of writing, Law confirmed to TV Insider ahead of Season 22’s premiere that she was returning to the series after hinting that Knight wasn’t completely happy with her new job at Pendleton Camp. “Overall, she’s pretty happy and she loves her new job,” she said “She loves the Pendleton team, she loves the REACT people that she’s working with, and she’s really had a great six months. That being said, I’m not sure that it’s quite as fulfilling as she thought and hoped it would be.”
She also revealed that Knight returns to the NCIS after the DC team travels to California to investigate an agent’s disappearance. “When an undercover agent goes missing and it ends up bringing the DC team out to California, it’s truly a happy reunion for Knight,” Law said. “She loves seeing Parker [Gary Cole] again, and the two of them end up having a heart-to-heart about if they’re happy, where they are, and how things are going.”
Law also explained how Knight’s six months away from the NCIS also affected the rest of the team. “Torres is now deep undercover going back to his roots so he’s on mission. McGee has interviewed for a new position, and we find Parker sitting alone at his desk in the DC bullpen looking at everybody else’s empty desks, which leads us to the title of our series opener. ‘Empty Nest,'” she said.
As for Knight and Palmer’s relationship, executive producer Steven D. Binder also hinted to TVInsider that Season 22 will see them get back together. “It’s months later. Knight’s on the West Coast [in her new job as chief REACT training officer],” he said of NCIS‘ Season 22 premiere. “They’ve settled into the new normal of not being together. Jimmy is dating. We’re going to learn a little bit about that. He’s been busy as a single man; that will make an appearance in the most inopportune time. [In the premiere] Knight encounters a very serious problem involving her skills as a hostage negotiator. There’s certain things you never do, and that’s what [she] does. As a result, her and Jimmy are going to get a chance to have part two of the conversation that we didn’t see in the finale. There’s a Part 3 to that conversation that we’ll see in Episode 4 when World War III is starting.”
Binder previously told TVLine after the Season 22 finale that viewers would be “satisfied” with the cliffhanger’s result, leading fans to believe that Law and Knight weren’t leaving NCIS.
“Well, we set something up there…,” Binder said. “And I will point you to our track record where you just never know. We’ve had people look like they were going away and then it turned out they weren’t, and then we had people who just disappeared, like Gibbs.” He added, “So I will say this: We do aim to please, and we think the audience will be satisfied with where they see this go.”
When asked about whether she’s leaving NCIS, Law teased to TVLine that fans wouldn’t find out the answer until the Season 22 premiere. “Hmmm…. Better tune in for that season opener!” she said. She also teased the answer in a post on her Instagram after the Season 21 finale. “Guess we gotta wait for CBS FALL?? Until then..catch up on @ncisverse on @paramountplus. Thank you all for a wonderful season?? @wilmervalderrama @dionareasonover @briankdietzen @therealseanhmurray @cbstvstudios @cbstv @cbscasting #ncis,” she captioned a photo of her on the red carpet for NCIS‘ Season 21 finale. Fans will notice that Law thanked fans and her cast mates for a “wonderful season” and not her run on NCIS in general, suggesting that she isn’t done with NCIS yet.
Fans were also confident that Law wasn’t leaving NCIS, with many speculating that the series will use Knight’s new job as a way to create drama between her, Palmer, and other characters in Season 22, which they believed would open with a time jump of Knight returning to the NCIS. (They were right!) “Now I doubt Katrina Law is actually leaving the show (unless hear about it down the line). “More like they’ll do a time skip, and then some event will bring her back, and they will try to navigate the impact of her departure on everyone,” a user wrote in a Reddit thread after the finale.
Another user added, “I think this is exactly the route we’ll see. Like you said, she’s making the choice that protects her from getting hurt by her attachments to her new found family. Next season will open six months later with her having to come back for some case and then everyone having to deal with the fallout of this decision, herself included.”
Other fans also believe that Law wasn’t leaving NCIS because the series would’ve killed off Knight instead of writing her off with another job. “I mean if she was gone they would have killed her off right? I honestly love Katrina law but never liked knight she never felt like a right fit and her relationship with Jimmy was so forced,” a Reddit user wrote.
Others also believe that Law had dropped hints that she and Knight would return for NCIS Season 22. “Katrina won’t be leaving the show, trust me the way she talks about it makes me feel like she’ll be back,” a user wrote in a Reddit thread. Another user wrote, “I think K Law is playing her like a coconut. Hard on the outside and soft in the middle. This is just to upset us over the summer like the time Tony fake left and the time Gibbs fake left. At least they did not put a bullet in her like Kate.”
NCIS is available to stream on Paramount Plus.
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