CBS has greenlit a new “NCIS” spinoff set in New York City starring LL Cool J and Scott Caan and is scheduled to premiere this fall.
NCIS: New York marks LL Cool J’s return to the franchise. He appeared on all 14 seasons of NCIS: Los Angeles from 2009 to 2023, before reprising his role as Sam Hanna, and has also appeared on the mainline NCIS series and NCIS: Hawaii. He will appear in two episodes of NCIS, airing April 21st and April 28th.
For Khan, this new role extends a long career at CBS. He previously played Danny “Dano” Williams on Hawaii Five-0 for all 10 seasons from 2010 to 2020, and also appeared in an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles during a crossover between the two series. However, he will be playing a new character in NCIS: New York.
The pilot for NCIS: New York was written by Scott Gemmill, who wrote all 14 seasons of NCIS: Los Angeles and served as showrunner for seven seasons. He currently serves as the writer and creator of HBO Max’s The Pit. Byron Balasco, who was a writer and producer on CBS’s “Without a Trace” and created the Audience Network series “Kingdom,” will serve as showrunner for “NCIS: New York.”
The “NCIS: New York” news was announced Wednesday at a press conference in Los Angeles, where CBS also announced its full fall schedule, as well as the renewals of “Beyond the Gates” and “Harlan Coben’s Final Twist,” and the development of the cop drama “Flint,” starring Matt LeBlanc.
“LL is like a family member to CBS and has been a huge success on ‘NCIS’ for the past two years,” CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach said at the event. “And for Sam Hanna (who is from New York but lived in LA for ‘NCIS: LA’), the opportunity to send him back home felt like a really ripe creative space.”
“NCIS” first aired on CBS in 2003 and will begin its 24th season this fall. In addition to “NCIS: New York,” the series currently has two spinoffs. CBS’ fall 2026 lineup includes season 3 of “NCIS: Origins” and season 4 of “NCIS: Sydney.”
Past spinoffs include “NCIS: Tony & Ziva,” which was canceled by Paramount+ last fall after one season. This caused a huge backlash from fans, possibly sparking a “Save the Show” campaign in an attempt to revive the show on CBS. Asked if CBS had considered bringing “Tony & Ziva” to the network, Reisenbach said no. “We really wanted to bring back the character of Sam Hanna,” he said of choosing the direction of LL Cool J instead.
