'NCIS’ Officially Reaches a Series-High Thanks to a Major Formula Change

Published Nov 4, 2026, 5:35 PM EST

Ryan O'Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided's CubbiesCrib. Whether it's taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what's going on. Outside of entertainment, he's a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor's in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.

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NCIS may be going through a renaissance. While CBS' long-running procedural series hasn't waned much in popularity over the years, the 2026-27 television season has thus far been a very eventful one for the wider franchise. For one, LL COOL J has been given a permanent home once more with the latest spin-off, NCIS: New York, pairing him with a new partner in Scott Caan and a fresh team following the cancellation of NCIS: Los Angeles. Meanwhile, NCIS: Origins Season 3 has Mark Harmon back in front of the camera for a storyline that sees Gibbs' past catch up to him and has reunited him with a few of his old teammates, including Michael Weatherly's Tony DiNozzo and Emily Wickersham's Ellie Bishop.

As far as the flagship is concerned, however, the most impactful difference has been the return of the prodigal son. With his Paramount+ spin-off, NCIS: Tony and Ziva, alongside Cote de Pablo, cancelled at the end of last year, Weatherly returned to NCIS for much more than just a guest appearance or a season-long storyline in Season 24. Tony now has a new position at the Washington Navy Yard, taking up the vacant position of NCIS director left behind by the tragic death of Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) in the show's climactic 500th episode. Having Gibbs' former protégé as the new man in the chair is more than just a full-circle moment — it's brought new life to the procedural.

Tony's return, combined with the momentum of the spin-offs, powered the NCIS Season 24 premiere to an impressive 6.45 million viewers back in October, officially ranking it as the most-watched program on broadcast television that night. Not only did it rank well against other shows, but it also soared to a high the mothership hasn't reached since 2024 with the Season 21 finale. It marked a 20% increase in viewership from Season 23's average, part of an overall 39% increase for the entirety of the NCIS slate. The momentum has carried over too, with Nielsen recently finding the series still ranking among the top five broadcast series with 10.1 million viewers in live plus 7 days of multiplatform viewership.

Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Iconic Fandom Should You Join? Harry Potter · Lord of the Rings · Star Wars · Star Trek

Eight honest questions about how you actually are: what you put on when you need cheering up, how deep you go into the things you love, what you argue about, what you keep on your shelf. Answer them and we will tell you where you belong. Four of the biggest fandoms on earth are taking new members, and they could not be more different from one another.

⚡Harry Potter(Wizarding World)

💍Lord of the Rings(Middle-earth)

⚔️Star Wars(A Galaxy Far Away)

🖖Star Trek(The Final Frontier)

FIND YOUR PEOPLE →

01

What do you put on when you need cheering up? Nobody is brave about this one.

AThe same thing I have watched a hundred times. BSomething long, slow and beautiful. CSomething big and loud with a great score. DOne clever episode of something hopeful.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

How deep do you go into something you love? There is no shallow end here, only different deep ends.

AI know every character and all the gossip. BI have read the appendices and studied the maps. CI have a ranked opinion on every instalment. DI want to know how the world actually works.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

What do you and your friends actually argue about? Every fandom has one argument it has been having for years.

AWhich one of us is which type. BWhether the adaptation got it right. CWhether the new stuff ruined the old stuff. DWhether the right thing was actually done.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

How do you feel about a room full of strangers? Every one of these comes with a very big room.

AGreat, and I will know everybody by the end. BFine, as long as they take it seriously. CBrilliant, especially if there is something to dress up for. DHappy, provided the conversation is interesting.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

Where would you rather spend a week? Pick on instinct rather than on budget.

AAn old castle somewhere rainy. BMountains, long walks, no phone signal. CA desert with an unbelievable night sky. DA city built around a university.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

What do you believe about people, mostly? All four of these stories have an answer, and they disagree.

AMost of them turn out better than expected. BThe smallest ones decide the biggest things. CAnybody can change, even very late on. DWe work it out if we keep talking.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

What is actually on your shelf? Look over at it before you answer.

AEverything I owned when I was twelve. BHardbacks, in order, read more than once. CFigures, posters, and a few things still boxed. DBooks about how things work, plus a model or two.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

What do you actually want from a story? Eight questions in, this is the one that picks your fandom.

AA place I can go back to whenever I need it. BA world complete enough to get lost in. CSomething huge I can share with everybody. DAn idea that changes how I think.

REVEAL MY FANDOM →

Membership Confirmed Your Fandom Is…

Four of the largest communities on the planet, and four completely different reasons to belong to one. Here is yours, what it would give you, and the argument you would be having within a week.

Harry Potter

You belong to the fandom that is really about comfort. Hogwarts works on people because it is a place rather than a plot, and the pull is not the wizard war so much as the corridors, the food, the weather and the sense that somebody is expecting you.

• You are drawn to belonging, which is why this fandom sorted itself into houses within about five minutes and has never stopped.
• This is the most social of the four, and the one most likely to know which type every single person in your life would be.
• The books are built to be reread rather than analysed, and rereading is exactly what you do with things you love.
• The new HBO series is bringing the whole thing back one book at a time, which means the arguments are about to start all over again.

Lord of the Rings

You belong to the deepest fandom on this list, the one where somebody has always read further than you and is quietly delighted to say so. Middle-earth rewards patience more than any other world in popular culture.

• You like the sense that the story you are reading is only the visible part of something enormous, which is precisely how Tolkien built it.
• This fandom takes adaptation seriously to a degree that other fandoms find slightly alarming, and it has good reasons for that.
• Your favourite thing about the books is probably the bit that is not action at all, which is the walking, the songs and the long goodbyes.
• Nobody here thinks heroism belongs to the powerful, and the whole story exists to make that argument.

Star Wars

You belong to the loudest and largest tent of the four, the one where three generations are all watching the same thing and none of them agree about any of it. That disagreement is not a flaw in this fandom, it is the main activity.

• You want something you can share with absolutely everybody, from a six year old to a grandparent, and this is the only one on the list that really does that.
• Nobody argues like Star Wars fans argue, and the argument has been running since roughly 1980 with no sign of resolution.
• The pull here is sensory before it is narrative, since it is the sound design, the score and the look of a used and dented galaxy.
• You would be first in the queue, in costume, with strong opinions and a genuinely good time.

Star Trek

You belong to the thinking fandom, the one that turns up for the argument rather than the explosion. Trek has always been a series of ethical problems in space, and the people who love it love being asked what they would have done.

• You are an optimist in a way that is currently unfashionable, and this is the only major franchise still willing to say the future might be better.
• The best episodes are the ones where nobody fires anything, which is a sentence that makes perfect sense to this fandom and to nobody else.
• Starfleet Academy brought the franchise back to a classroom in 2026, which is appropriate, because Trek has always been a bit of a seminar.
• You would want the conversation afterwards more than the episode itself, and here you will always find somebody willing to have it.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

Will 'NCIS' Keep Tony DiNozzo Around Past Season 24?

It's clear that, at least in the short term, fans are excited to have Tony and Weatherly back in such a symbolic way. His return even made for an especially poignant reunion between him and Gibbs, in which his former boss made it known how proud he is of him. The question on everyone's mind now is how long this stint will last. Weatherly initially departed NCIS back in Season 13 to take on new challenges, namely the CBS legal drama Bull, but that was ten years ago. Showrunner Steven D. Binder recently indicated that his role on the procedural might continue beyond the initial plan, though it's too early to say for certain whether "Director DiNozzo" will be a regular presence for the long haul.

"We take these things one season at a time. On the other hand, you blink and it’s Season 24. So I don’t really know. Network television is a real hand-to-mouth endeavor in terms of getting these scripts on time. We’re doing 20 episodes in a season where a streamer does eight episodes in 25 months. So we’re taking it one step at a time. Certainly, it’s been really great having him in that chair, and I don’t see any reason why it should slow, but I don’t know that we’re looking quite that far yet."

NCIS airs every Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the future of the franchise

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  Sean Murray

  Timothy McGee

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  Tony DiNozzo