‘NCIS’ Adding Recurring Character as [Spoiler’s] Ex

The NCIS Season 19 finale will introduce a new character who will later play a big part in the upcoming 20th season. Meet the Parents star Teri Polo was cast as the ex-wife of Gary Cole’s character, hinting that NCIS Special Agent Alden Parker’s personal life will be featured in future episodes. CBS picked up NCIS for Season 20 last month.

Polo will guest star in the Season 19 finale as Vivial Kolchak, a former FBI agent who left the bureau after she and Parker divorced. She now works as a paranormal investigator for the Department of Defense, reports Deadline. Polo will have a recurring role in Season 20. 

Cole stepped in to lead the NCIS team after Mark Harmon left four episodes into Season 19. The rest of the main cast includes Sean Murray as Timothy McGee, Wilmer Valderrama as Nick Torres, Katrina Law as Jessica Knight, Brian Dietzen as Dr. Jimmy Palmer, Dion Easonover as Kasie Hines, David MacCallum as Dr. Ducky Mallard, and Rocky Carroll as Leon Vance. Murray and MacCallum are the last remaining cast members from Season 1 after Harmon’s departure. NCIS airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.

The success of NCIS Season 19 proves the show can survive without Harmon, who was the face of the franchise. The show will tie Gunsmoke as the third-longest-running primetime drama in U.S. television history, behind Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and the original Law & Order. NCIS: Hawai’i and NCIS: Los Angeles will also return in fall 2022.

“NCIS, one of the most popular and enduring series in the world, and fan-favorite NCIS: Los Angeles have been hugely successful on the CBS schedule for years,” CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl said last month. “With the strong new addition of NCIS: Hawai’i, we are able to expand the strength of this formidable franchise across our schedule. We couldn’t be more excited to have all three talented casts and creative teams back to bring more compelling NCIS stories to viewers in the U.S. and around the globe.”

Polo is best known for playing police officer Stef Adams Foster in Freeform’s The Fosters and Good Trouble. She also starred as Ben Stiller’s wife in the Meet the Parents movies. She has extensive experience with procedurals, having starred in episodes of SVU, CSI: Miami, Ghost Whisperer, Monk, Medium, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Castle, and Criminal Minds. She recently starred in Fox’s The Big Leap, which centered on a group of dance show competitors. Although the series earned critical acclaim, the show was canceled in March and was the lowest-rated Fox show of the 2021-2022 season.