Details on That Huge ‘NCIS’ Character Return Cliffhanger

NCIS’ fall finale brought back a major character, and more details have been revealed about the cliffhanger.

In the final seconds of Tuesday’s episode of the CBS procedural, Emily Wickersham returned as Ellie Bishop.

The moment came right after Knight got her first NCIS: Elite mission, which was to track down a wanted fugitive – Bishop. The last fans saw of her was at the end of Season 18, when she resigned from NCIS after confessing to leaking NSA secrets, opting to go on a long-term CIA undercover mission. Showrunner Steven D. Binder told TVLine that Bishop had left “on a pretty dangerous, interesting mission in a foreign land, and she has been doing that kind of work since then, and it’s taxing, and it’s trying, and it’s deadly, and people die, and you’re responsible for people dying.”

“You’re not at the Four Seasons, and she is not the same person,” he continued. “I mean, in some way, she is. She still likes her Klowny Kakes. [Laughs] But she is not the same person that left the show. She’s a very different person. A lot has happened to her, and that will go a long way to explain why we are looking for her in a way that suggests she’s done something wrong.”

While undercover, Binder confirms that Bishop did do something wrong, and when the show returns in February, her motive and more will be explored. It was a surprise, to say the least, when it was revealed that Knight’s mission was to track down Bishop, and she was surprised to. Having to keep it a secret from the team, especially Nick, who has a history with Bishop, is not going to be easy.

But Binder said that fans “won’t have to worry about that too long, because circumstances will dictate that we don’t go down that road.” He shared, “But I can also tell you that Knight doesn’t make the same choice Bishop made. Knight chooses team loyalty over her oath, over her duty. Revealing classified information is probably not legal, but you know… see aforementioned conversation about talking to your spouse.”

As for how much Wickersham is expected to appear in the back half of Season 23, Binder admitted, “We’re gonna run this story out and have it end, so expect to see her right now in one episode that will run it out. We have no official plans right now to continue that storyline, but we had a great time with Emily, and Emily had a great time here. So she’s sort of back on the roster, so to speak. But we’ve done some very long arc stories that have run out. This is not going to be one of them. We’re going to go right to what people want to see, and we’re going to have some closure, although that may or may not be what people want to see. We’ll find out.”

He also clarified that Wickersham “had a great time. We had a great time. It’s a fun story. The character is because of her… [Bishop] always was an interesting character. She’s a way more interesting character now, because of the wear and tear on the psyche,” and that the door is always open for her to come back.

It’s hard to predict what exactly will happen in the midseason premiere and what Bishop’s return means, but fans will just have to wait and see. NCIS returns on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, streaming the next day on Paramount+.