CBS has handed out a mixed bag of NCIS franchise news to fans in announcing its 2026-27 Fall TV schedule. Let’s start with the good news.
In a surprising turn of events, CBS has announced a brand new NCIS spinoff series has been ordered to series. Not only is the NCIS franchise growing once again, but CBS has tapped a familiar face from the franchise to lead the newest addition to the NCIS Universe!
LL Cool J will return to reprise his role as Senior Special Agent Sam Hanna in NCIS: New York, a new spinoff coming this fall. The series will see Sam returning to his hometown of New York City, New York, where he’ll be partnering with a roguish special agent set to be played by Hawaii Five-0 alum Scott Caan. The new series will debut in the fall, airing alongside NCIS and NCIS: Origins as part of CBS’s NCIS programming block.
To make room for the new NCIS spinoff, CBS will be bumping NCIS: Sydney to midseason, which means the show’s fourth season will not arrive until 2027. This is certainly disappointing news for fans of the series, as it was assumed season 4 would premiere in the fall alongside the new seasons of NCIS and NCIS: Origins.
Speaking of NCIS: Origins, it’s also going to be impacted by the arrival of the new spinoff. CBS will look to give NCIS: New York a prime spot in the lineup by slotting it into the 9 p.m. ET time slot behind NCIS. This will result in NCIS: Origins moving back an hour to 10 p.m. ET beginning this fall. The move is a strategic one by the network, which will look to leverage the NCIS lead-in to help launch the newest addition to the franchise.
News of the LL Cool J-led NCIS: New York came as quite a surprise, as CBS had not previously announced another spinoff from the franchise as being in active development. While we have our leads in LL Cool J and Caan, details on the show's ensemble are likely to be revealed in the coming weeks as the rest of the cast is fleshed out.
We're also likely to see the groundwork for the new spinoff laid in the upcoming episodes of NCIS, as the news comes timed to LL Cool J's latest return to the flagship series. Fans will get to see him reprising his NCIS: Los Angeles role in the April 21 and April 28 episodes of NCIS. Sam's return was teased in the promo for the next episode, and we wouldn't be surprised to see CBS use those two episodes to set up the new spinoff.
What will be interesting is to see how CBS chooses to handle its schedule. We know that NCIS: Sydney will be held until midseason, but it's unclear when the show will return and how CBS will slot the series into the schedule. There is a chance that the episode order for NCIS: New York could be shorter than the orders for NCIS and NCIS: Origins. If that ends up being the case, the first season could wrap in the fall or early in 2027, which would then make room for NCIS: Sydney to return to the Tuesday night schedule.
With NCIS: Sydney season 3 concluding on May 12, the one thing we do know is that fans are in for a much longer than expected hiatus with the show being held for midseason.
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