How Will LL Cool J Return to ‘NCIS’?

Special Agent Sam Hanna is back!

LL Cool J is returning to the NCIS franchise this fall, set to star on new spinoff NCIS: New York as the character he originated on NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: Hawai’i.

NCIS: New York will follow Sam Hanna as he “returns to his hometown of New York City to their field office” and partners with a “roguish agent” played by Scott Caan, according to the show’s logline. Together, they’ll lead “a new team as they are tasked with high-stakes missions to defend one of the most vital cities and ports in the world.”

The rapper told PEOPLE that he “never stepped out” of the NCIS world in the first place, and that Sam Hannah is “a character that I’ve been living and breathing and just bringing to the world” for years.

He promised fans that they can expect “a lot of big New York” in the new series. “You’ll enjoy it,” he said at CBS Fest in April.

Much still remains to be seen about the new spinoff series. So much so that even NCIS stars are speculating right along with fans what the show could look like. Diona Reasonover told TVLine earlier this spring that she’s been plotting for her character to join Sam Hannah in the Big Apple.

“That’s what I’m hoping for. That’s what I’m pitching,” she told the outlet of her hopes to work with LL Cool J in the new spinoff. “That’s what I’m going to the network with.”

“I’ve also gone to them with several travel itineraries. But they won’t get back to me,” she joked.

LL Cool J starred on NCIS: Los Angeles as Sam Hanna for all 14 seasons, from 2009 to 2023. After LA ended, the rapper joined NCIS: Hawai’i in a recurring guest role for its third and final season, occasionally helping out Tennant and her team while working on a new team of his own. The last time fans saw Sam was during Season 22 of NCIS.

NCIS Season 24 will premiere this fall, as will the first season of NCIS: New York, which will air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. It will be sandwiched between NCIS and NCIS: Origins.