‘NCIS’ Season 18 Finale Airdate Revealed

The dramatic 18th season of NCIS has an end date. On Monday, CBS revealed that the NCIS Season 18 finale will air on Tuesday, May 25 at 8 p.m. ET, before the season finales of FBI and FBI: Most Wanted. The other NCIS spin-offs will end their seasons a few days earlier, with the NCIS: Los Angeles Season 12 finale and NCIS: New Orleans series finale airing on Sunday, May 23.

NCIS is in the middle of a brief break, leaving fans dangling at the end of the March 16 episode, “Watchdog.” During the episode, Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and the team uncovered a dog abuser in the Navy. Gibbs was arrested after he confronted the abuser, leaving the rest of the team to investigate the case without him. Although they successfully found enough evidence to get the abuser arrested, Gibbs was forced to confess to attacking the abuser. This forced NCIS Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) to suspend Gibbs indefinitely.

The next new episode, “Gut Punch,” does not air until Tuesday, April 6. Based on the episode description, Gibbs’ suspension might stick a little longer as he does not appear to be involved in the case. Vance assigns McGee (Sean Murray), Torres (Wilmer Valderrama), and Bishop (Emily Wickersham) to COVID compliance duty during a foreign affairs summit. Once there, they find a link to a murder investigation. Pam Dawber guest stars as journalist Marcie Warren.

NCIS Season 18 has thrown a handful of twists and turns at fans, through multiple minor character deaths and one big departure. In “Winter Chill,” fans learned that Emily, the daughter of Tobias Fornell (Joe Spano) died. In “True Believer,” Sloane (Maria Bello) revealed she was leaving NCIS to move to Costa Rica. Her plans changed when she was sent to Afghanistan to help young girls abducted by the Taliban, so she decides to stay there to continue her mission.

The show is the longest-running on CBS at the moment, although its future is unknown. In February, sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Mark Harmon‘s contract ends at the end of this season. After Harmon learned that CBS would end the show without him, he reportedly began talks with the network about returning for a few episodes so NCIS would be renewed for Season 19. Harmon is also an executive producer on NCIS: New Orleans, which ends this year. CBS is reportedly planning on launching another spin-off, NCIS: Hawaii.