NCIS: Hawaii season 4 is not happening (and CBS has made it clear there's no saving the show)

NCIS: Hawaii's series finale is here. It's a sad time for the fandom as the fight to save the show meets its sunset since CBS has made it very clear that they will not be moving forward with a fourth season. The disappointing decision to cancel the procedural has been explained. In a press briefing, the network's executives answered the question of why they canceled the Hawaii entry in the franchise.

CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach said the following (Per Variety):

"It is incumbent on us to always keep the schedule fresh, keep momentum going. We had to make some really tough choices this year, everything came back [from the Hollywood strikes] really strong, but ultimately we have to look at the cohesiveness of the schedule flow. We have to evaluate the financials and the performance overall, and we make tough decisions."

Reisenbach's words are a tough pill to swallow considering, as previously reported, NCIS: Hawaii wasn't performing poorly. The series ranked #12 for network TV when factoring in non-sports programming. The crux of the issue for the program is that it's expensive. Though it's been reported that the team was willing to accept a major budget cut and a shortened fourth season to give the show a final bow, it was still considered to be too expensive.

Reversing the cancellation wasn't on the table and, now the CBS' 2024-2025 TV schedule has been released, it's been confirmed that NCIS: Origins--the franchise's prequel series about a younger Gibbs--has been slotted into the 10 o'clock hour which is where its predecessor Hawaii has called home for three seasons. Unfortunately, a move to Paramount+ is also out of the cards.

CBS president and CEO George Cheeks spoke to what's prevented the series from moving to CBS' streaming arm like Evil and SEAL Team did when the network's schedule was packed but the studio wanted to keep the shows.

"Budgets are challenged, so we don’t have an unlimited amount of slots on Paramount+. It’s something that we’re always open to, but it’s never a guarantee."

Why couldn't NCIS: Hawaii be given one of Paramount+'s slots? The streamer already has NCIS: Sydney and there's another series from the franchise in the works. The recently greenlit, and still unnamed project, will see Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David return for a series set to film in Europe this summer. From the looks of it, Hawaii seems to have the misfortune of getting caught in the middle of a peak growth point for the franchise.

This growth, however, with exception to Sydney, is predicated on the past. So, the idea that the schedule needs to be kept "fresh" when it's a prequel series slotting into Hawaii's spot doesn't sit well and it's not going to. The last factor in the show's cancellation has to do with Paramount Global being up for sale and therefore needing to balance the sheet.

According to Deadline, there'd been concern that continuing to invest in Hawaii with no guarantee that it'd be a moneymaker internationally wasn't the right move in the short-term with the sell around the corner. As such, the powers that be didn't chance it. As you can see, there were multiple layers to this cancellation decision and CBS isn't going to reverse it now that they've doubled down on their choice to move forward without the show.

Stay tuned to Hidden Remote for more NCIS news and coverage! We'll keep you posted on the latest information about the franchise and its series. Stream NCIS: Hawaii on Paramount+.