‘NCIS’ Character Returns in Season 23 Penultimate Episode

NCIS is bringing back Nancy Travis for another Parker family reunion.

Navy Vice Admiral Harriet Parker, the estranged sister of Gary Cole’s Alden Parker, will appear in a third episode of Season 23, titled “Deal With the Devil” and slated to air on May 5.

“As a secret immunity deal threatens to let a man walk free, Parker fights to keep the case alive,” CBS teases of the penultimate episode of Season 23. “But when his estranged sister (guest star Nancy Travis) suddenly appears – and buried family wounds resurface — the battle for justice becomes deeply personal.”

Harriet has appeared in two prior episodes of Season 23, and Cole told TV Insider in November that he was hoping to see more of Travis as the show went on.

“I hope that we see Nancy Travis come back. Obviously she was wonderful, but I’d like to see that character reappear and to see where that relationship goes from there,” he said at the time. “We see them basically kind of connected through their father and now that he’s passed, it would be interesting to see them together and dealing with that in each in their own way.”

“But also I think there’s a lot of stuff to be mined there about Parker’s past, which she’s obviously a part of,” he continued. “So I hope the writers — hello, writers! — mine that a little bit. It would be good.”

NCIS is also gearing up for the Season 23 finale, titled “Sons and Daughters,” and set to air on May 12. “One year after a deadly coffee shop bombing, a new explosion proves the attack wasn’t the work of a lone wolf — a case that forces the team to confront legacy and loyalty,” as per CBS.

Brian Dietzen told TV Insider that the Season 23 finale could bring more shakeups to the NCIS world following the death of Rocky Carroll’s NCIS Director Leon Vance in the 500th episode.

“This season was a tumultuous one for our show because of the 500th episode, of losing Director Vance,” Dietzen, who plays head M.E. Dr. Jimmy Palmer, told the outlet. “The finale, I got to say, I’m not going to say it’s the same as the 500, but there’s echoes of it. And people are not going to want to miss the last, what, five minutes of this show because it has the potential to change a lot within our universe yet again.”

NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount+.