‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ Star Already Wants Role on ‘NCIS: Hawaii’

NCIS: Los Angeles star Eric Christian Olsen spends his offseason with his family in Hawaii, which just so happens to be the setting for the newest NCIS spinoff. Olsen, who previously endorsed the idea of a spinoff set in the Aloha State, said he would be interested in a cameo on NCIS: Hawai’i. The new series will debut in the fall, replacing NCIS: New Orleans as the third NCIS show on CBS.

During an interview on Entertainment Tonight Friday, Olsen was asked if he was working on NCIS: Hawai’i while he was there with his family. At first, the actor joked about joining the new show full-time, but then seriously said he would like to do a cameo. “It would be great if I did a cameo on NCIS: Hawai’i, but didn’t say anything… just walked through the back of the shot,” he said. NCIS: Hawai’i does not start shooting until next month though.

NCIS: Hawai’i will air on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET this fall, following the original NCIS, which is moving from Tuesdays to Mondays. NCIS: Los Angeles will remain on Sundays, airing at 9 p.m. ET. It will serve as a lead-in for SEAL Team instead of NCIS: New Orleans, which finishes its seventh and final season on Sunday night.

The new NCIS series will star Vanessa Lachey as Jane Tennant, the first female Special Agent in Charge of NCIS Pearl Harbor. Yasmine Al-Bustami, Jason Antoon, and Noah Mills will co-star. Christopher Silber and Jan Nash, who worked on NCIS: New Orleans, co-created the new series with Matt Bosack. Larry Teng, who directed episodes of SWAT and Hawaii Five-0, will direct the pilot and serve as executive producer.

In a preview for the new show, Lachey said she did not take the role of the first female character to lead an NCIS branch lightly. “I’m excited to bring a different layer to this role and hopefully inspire this next generation of young girls and women,” Lachey said in a video released by CBS. “My character Jane Tennant is the special agent in charge of NCIS. She’s a mother of a 15-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl and that is real life: juggling life, and love, and work”

Although Lachey is not of Hawaiian descent, she assured fans that she is familiar with the state. She is half-Filipino and spent time in Hawaii during her father’s military service. “I obviously know the first layer that most people know when they pass through and you see the beautiful waters and the beaches; but, what I’m interested to show is the depth to the people of Hawaii,” Lachey explained. “There’s so much beauty there. There’s so much culture there hopefully I can portray to everyone and show the beautiful side of Hawaii.”

One of the other major nods to Hawaiian culture is the show’s title, which will include the okina between the two i’s. Hawaii is the official state name, but its name in the Hawaiian language does include the glottal stop. The Big Island’s official name is also the Big Island of Hawai’i.