‘NCIS’ Star Wilmer Valderrama Teases ‘Epic’ Season 20 After Torres Confronts His Past (Exclusive)

What lies ahead for Nick Torres and the rest of the NCIS team in Season 20 is “epic,” actor Wilmer Valderrama teases in an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com. In Monday’s episode of NCIS, Torres came face-to-face with his undercover past when gun-runner Reymundo Diaz went on a murder spree in search of Torres, the man who betrayed him. 

Also in the line of fire was Diaz’s cousin Maria, who agreed to testify against her family member after Torres promised her he’d enter witness protection with her, despite knowing their romance was doomed to fail. Monday’s episode ends with Torres killing Diaz and Maria saying goodbye to her life in hiding, but what’s next for the NCIS agent?

Valderrama told PopCulture ahead of Monday’s episode that what happened would “telegraph his road to healing” as well as “what we’re going to do with the character next season as well.” Looking forward to Season 20 of NCIS for Torres, the actor teased, “So, there’s a lot. I mean, there’s a lot to unravel there. I think that the collaboration with the writers and the showrunner has been incredibly fruitful for the character.  … So, we are going to build a lot.”

“For my character, next season, we will see… I think he may be in more trouble than healing, but healing, for sure, is part of that journey,” he continued. “So, I can’t say much because there’s some pretty big announcements coming, and I think that hopefully, the fans are excited about that, but the world’s going to get bigger for NCIS, I’ll tell you that much.”

Getting the news that NCIS was renewed for another season “thrilled” Valderrama. “Look, let’s be honest. Shows nowadays don’t turn in live numbers like they used to. To have something on network that’s performing the way that [it] traditionally used to, maybe 10, 15 years ago, it’s insane. Just doesn’t happen. So, I’m very, very proud of that.”

“So, were we surprised that we got picked up for Season 20?” he asked. “In many ways, we kind of were,  because you do 19 years and you hope like, ‘Okay, we’ll continue to go as we go.’ The show certainly feels new and fresh, but you just hope that the fans continue to watch, but we’re going into Season 20, a big, big chapter for the legacy of the show. So, what we’re going to do in Season 20 is exciting. It’s pretty epic.” NCIS airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS and is available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+.