NCIS season 21 spoilers: Why does Nick get arrested?

Less than a month out from a new episode, CBS released a sneak peek from the premiere of NCIS season 21, and we’re already anticipating what will happen. Even though we had an idea of what we might see based on the season 20 finale, it’s another thing to finally get confirmation. Or is it all as it seems?

As we left off previously, Nick Torres was undercover in prison when he spotted a man from his past. All we know about this man is he had dated Nick’s mother before ripping them off financially. He was still doing it to another young man’s family, who Nick met in prison. At the end of the episode, he confronts the man in his home.

Fans were hopeful that when season 21 came along, things would work out. But now it appears that Nick could have actually gone too far this time. In the new sneak peek below, Nick is being led away in handcuffs as Alden Parker tries to defend him.

Why is Nick under arrest in the NCIS season 21 premiere?

Just as Nick is taken to the elevator, Parker reads the warrant and tells Tim McGee and Jessica Knight that he is wanted for murder. So is the man Nick confronted dead? And if so, did Nick actually commit the crime?

In an interview, executive producer David J. North described the man as being “responsible for the tortured soul we know Torres to be. He has a lot of demons, and this man is by far the worst.”

Hopefully we will find out that Nick didn’t do it and was set up. It looks like the team will once again have his back and battle the FBI to make sure he comes home. 

There’s always a chance that Nick could be innocent. And so far, there has been no word of actor Wilmer Valderrama leaving the show. So we will have to wait until Monday, Feb. 12, to find out what will happen to Agent Torres.