‘NCIS’ Crossover Brings Surprise Fan-Favorite Cameo

The massive and long-awaited NCIS crossover aired earlier in January, bringing fans a surprise cameo that was a very welcome sight. During the three-series event, NCIS: Los Angles star Linda Hunt made a brief voice appearance as Hetty, the team’s fearless leader who has been missing from the series whike off on a secret mission for some time. “Sounds like you’ve got yourself in a bit of a pickle,” Hetty told Callen (Chris O’Donnell) and Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) in a decrypted audio message. 

“I warned Hollis that his Simon Williams days would come to bite him in the ass,” she added. Hetty then said, “You are all quite capable, and far be it for me to tell you what to do. But you might want to contact an old friend, Gwen Johns.” NCIS: LA showrunner R. Scott Gemmill spoke with TVLine about the big moment, which he scripted. “The triple crossover was such an important event for all of our NCIS families that it was important to have Hetty (played by Linda Hunt) be a part of it, even if she was physically unavailable,” he said. “In true Hetty fashion, she proved not only to be on top of what was going on,” Gemmill added, “but she even offered some cryptic advice to help get them out of a jam.”

In the early part of NCIS: L.A. Season 14, there was a concern that Hetty could be dead. The last we knew, in Season 12 she was traveling to Syria on a top-secret mission, with few updates emerging over the past couple of seasons. She was not in Seasons 12 or 13 very much. In the Season 14 premiere, a bomb explosion left the remains of one individual in question, with many presuming it might have been Hetty. The body held an ID in the name of Trudy Chambers, which was one of Hetty’s known aliases. 

For the majority of the episode, the team was left waiting for DNA test results to tell them if the deceased was Hetty. The good news is that it turned out Hetty was not the one killed by the blast, but, sadly, a young girl was, and she somehow wound up with Hetty’s fake ID. Adm. Hollace Kilbride (Gerald McRaney) believes Hetty planted the ID on the body in the hopes that she could throw her enemies off her trail. Hetty’s whereabouts remained unknown and this new message is hopefully not her last communication. Paramount+ subscribers can now stream all three episodes of the NCIS crossover. Those interested in trying out a free trial of Paramount+ can do so by clicking here.