‘NCIS: New Orleans’: Pride Officially Leaves the Team on Tuesday Night’s Episode

It seems that NCIS: New Orleans might have moved Dwayne Pride to a higher ranking office job after all.

In a new sneak peek from Tuesday’s episode, “Diplomatic Immunity,” Pride (Scott Bakula) can be seen parking his car in a new reserved parking space for his new Special Agent in Charge position.

“Special Agent in Charge, did you have any trouble finding your way?” a man asks Pride as he is putting on his jacket. The man introduces himself as Steven Thompson, his new Assistant Special Agent in Charge.

“Heard a lot about you over the years,” he tells Pride.

“Good things I hope,” Pride responds.

Pride then struggles to pick up a box he has with him and Thompson asks him about how his recovery is going after his near-fatal gunshot wound.

“Slowly and painfully,” Pride says.

“This should be a welcomed change of pace,” Thompson says, before leading Pride into the office, after passive aggressively telling him off for being late on his first day for his meeting with JAG.

Thompson then shows Pride around his new office, and Pride meets his new assistant, who quickly piles him on with case files, phone calls he has to return and things he must know before his meeting.

“This meeting, that I am heading to right now,” Pride says, seeming overwhelmed by his new position in NCIS.

“Is anything wrong?” Thompson asks.

“No, I’m just used to reading before, that’s all,” Pride explains.

“This is more of a read-as-you-go type of deal,” Thompson says, leaving Pride to wonder about what he’s gotten himself into.

The clip seems to confirm the cliffhanger from last week’s episode, where Pride pondered whether to leave behind his job in the field with the New Orleans team in order to lead a more calm lifestyle following his near-fatal injury in the season finale.

“While NCIS investigates the murder of a Navy intelligence officer killed during a conference for foreign diplomats, the key witness cozies up to Sebastian. Also, Pride has some trouble adjusting to his new position at the agency,” read the episode’s synopsis released by CBS.

Whether his time at headquarters will be permanent remains to be seen, though the team already met their new interim leader Special Agent Hannah Khoury (Necar Zadegan) during last week’s episode, where a tense case brought the team close to the new agent.

Will Pride take on a bigger role within NCIS headquarters? Watch it all unfold on Tuesday’s episode of NCIS: New Orleans airing at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.

Photo Credit: CBS