'NCIS: Los Angeles' Moves Caleb Castille to Series Regular in Season 12

When NCIS: Los Angeles returns this fall, the show will have a new star. Caleb Castille, who starred in three episodes of Season 11 as FBI Agent Devin Rountree, has been promoted to series regular. Before joining the NCIS: LA fold, Castille starred in CBS All Access' Tell Me A Story and Hulu's Wu-Tang: An American Saga.

In Season 11, agents G. Callen (Chris O'Donnell) and Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) invited Rountree to join NCIS' Office of Special Operations. Rountree will be weighing his options at the beginning of Season 12. He has to decide if staying in Los Angeles is the right move for his career and for his family since he is also raising his sister, who is about to enroll at UCLA.

Castille quit the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team during his senior year, after winning two national championships, to begin acting. He made his acting debut in the 2015 football movie Woodlawn. He has since starred in episodes of 9-1-1, The Rookie, and The Third Act. In 2019, he appeared in two episodes of Wu-Tang Clan: An American Saga and joined the second season of Tell Me A Story. He also starred in Netflix's The World We Make.

"We asked our casting directors Susan Bluestein and Jason Kennedy to find us a talented young actor, who was extremely funny, highly athletic, charismatic and had an incredible work ethic," NCIS: LA executive producer Kyle Harimoto told Deadline. "After they finished laughing at us, they started an exhaustive national casting search." After they saw Castille's work, they asked him to meet with the producers in Los Angeles and they instantly knew he could play Rountree.

Last month, CBS TV Studios set Sept. 3 as NCIS: LA's return date to production, as the show was put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. Both NCIS: LA and NCIS, which also films in Los Angeles, will follow strict guidelines to keep cast and crew members safe. Additionally, the new season will be produced after CBS announced a partnership with 21CP Solutions, an advisory group made up of former police chiefs, lawyers, and community leaders. NCIS: LA showrunner R. Scott Gemmill told Variety he is "very excited" to work with the group. "This new partnership will help us ensure that our storytelling continues to produce accurate portrayals of law enforcement, and will hopefully allow us to play a small part in the ongoing reform moving forward," he said.