‘NCIS: Los Angeles’: 2 Series Veterans Exit in Season 12 Finale

NCIS: Los Angeles fans said goodbye (for now) to two veteran characters during the Season 12 finale Sunday, as Eric Beale (Barrett Foa) and Nell Jones (Renée Felice Smith) took a risk at Eric’s international HQ of his Kaleidoscope-based tech firm in none other than Tokyo. While Nell originally had a big decision to make about joining on as the permanent new Operations Manager, she decided to take a risk and head overseas instead, especially after Eric revealed he had pitched his board already on her stepping in as his right hand.

It was an unexpectedly happy ending for the NCIS: LA crew, but fans were still in their feelings upon learning Eric and Nell would be making their exit from the team, at least for now. Foa has been a part of the CBS procedural since the pilot, becoming a season regular midway through Season 1. In Season 11, the actor took a break from the show to pursue other opportunities but returned for intermittent appearances throughout Season 12. Smith joined the cast in Season 2 and also was absent from episodes in Seasons 11 and 12.

Showrunner R. Scott Gemmill told TVLine that the two “very ambitious individuals” decided to make their exit from the show to pursue other projects. “It seemed like a natural time to let them go off and do some other things, and give [their characters] what is a happy, hopefully, ending,” he explained. It doesn’t have to be the end of Eric or Nell, however. “There’s a little loophole in there, when Nell says she’s going to be alone in Tokyo with Eric, and she gives it ‘six weeks’ before she’s back,” Gemmill teased. “So, we’ll see what happens.”

Nell’s decision to turn down the Operations Manager job came as a shock for some, which Gemmill said was all part of the plan. “This seemed like a good time [to write her out], because you probably expected Nell to take Hetty’s job that she’s being groomed for,” he said. “But it’s a good thing, in some ways, to have that little bit of unpredictability to the show. That keeps it fresh and honest. But also, like I said, we keep in loopholes so that we can bring people back.” Catch up on old NCIS episodes on Paramount+, which you can try for free here. Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by ViacomCBS Streaming, a division of ViacomCBS.

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