Why ‘NCIS’ Guest Star Erinn Hayes Looks So Familiar to CBS Viewers

NCIS’ latest guest star, Erinn Hayes, may be familiar to viewers. The actress appeared on the Mar. 3 episode of the long-running CBS procedural as Jimmy’s neighbor, potential love interest, and suspected criminal, Wendy Hill, but she actually starred on a different CBS series, Kevin Can Wait.

Hayes starred on the Kevin James-led sitcom Kevin Can Wait as Donna Gable for the first season. She played the wife of James’ Kevin Gable but died prior to the second season.

Variety reported at the time of her departure that the show was “going in a different creative direction, and not a reflection” of Hayes’ performance, per sources. She later went on Twitter to share she had “been let go from the show.”

The series, which also starred Taylor Spreitler, Ryan Cartwright, Gary Valentine, Lenny Venito, Leonard Earl Howze, James DiGiacomo, Mary-Charles Jones, and Leah Remini, ran for two seasons from 2016 to 2018 and was canceled by CBS less than a week after the Season 2 finale.

Created by James, Rock Reuben, and Bruce Helford, Kevin Can Wait centered on a newly retired Nassau County police officer living on Long Island with his wife and their three children. After Hayes’ character is killed off, the series brought in a new female lead, Remini’s Vanessa Cellucci, a former rival of Kevin’s from the police force who becomes his partner at their security company. The sitcom received mixed reviews but leaned toward the negative side.

Aside from Kevin Can Wait, Hayes is also known for her role as Dr. Lola Spratt on the Adult Swim dark comedy Childrens Hospital and its spinoff Medical Police. She received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series in 2016. Other credits include The Watch, Bill & Ted Face the Music, A Christmas Story Christmas, CSI, Everwood, Grey’s Anatomy, Guys with Kids, Parks & Recreation, and The Goldbergs, among others. She can most recently be seen in episodes of Grimsburg and St. Denis Medical.

As for her role on NCIS, it’s unknown if this could turn into something more. There was clearly something there between Wendy and Jimmy, but then she was accused of being a killer. However, stranger things have happened, so you never know. Or perhaps Jimmy and Jess will reconcile.