‘NCIS’ Star Wilmer Valderrama Teases a ‘Fracturing’ Episode for Nick Torres (Exclusive)

Wilmer Valderrama is warning NCIS fans to grab their tissues ahead of Monday’s all-new episode of the CBS drama. Valderrama opened up to PopCulture.com about the “fracturing” and emotional episode awaiting his character Nick Torres ahead of Monday’s episode “Last Dance,” which sees the agent facing the repercussions of his actions during an undercover operation he worked on years ago.

Valderrama told PopCulture that while Torres has always been a “very mysterious, kind of lone wolf” character, fans will get to know him in a whole new way during Monday’s episode. “Tonight’s episode, it is a crazy departure for him,” he shared. “It’s a very personal case that comes back from like six years ago in an undercover job he went on. And there’s a love story intertwining to that, that he was a part of, that actually really explains a lot of how he’s handled a lot of his personal relationships.”

Valderrama continued, “I think it is going to be a very fracturing episode for him, and one that hopefully [telegraphs] his road to healing, but it’s going to be really relatable in many ways.” Watching Torres struggle with alcohol on the show, Valderrama said there’s “a little hope” for his character fans will see tonight that is “telegraphing what we’re going to do with the character next season as well.”

“Just grab your tissues,” Valderrama teased of this week’s NCIS. “This is one of those episodes where you see Torres like you’ve never seen him before. He’s the most vulnerable he’s ever been. He’s always been such a rough-around-the-edges tough guy, doesn’t really want to give into feelings. And today, something hits him hard, and you’re going to see a very projecting and vulnerable Torres.”

Getting to take his performance as Torres to this emotional level is something Valderrama finds “refreshing” as an actor. “Most of the time, when you do a procedure show, you tend to not dive as deep into the characters, because it is about the case of the week. But what’s different about NCIS, [is] that it’s about the people solving the cases, and you go along with this team that is disarming, it’s human, and they’re not perfect people, and they’re out there trying to do the best job they can for others.”

“It’s really aspirational, but you definitely see yourself a lot in these characters,” he reflected. “And I love how we can be a reflection of our audiences in many ways, and where we are pop-culturally as well. …I think it’s tough to find characters in which you can have enough of a runway to play all those elements and play all those feelings and see the character become different, because, that’s what happens in real life – we change.” NCIS airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS and is available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+.