NCIS franchise returns Nov 10 after CBS election-night preemption
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The gist
CBS pulled all three NCIS shows on Nov 3 for election coverage; new episodes return Nov 10.
The franchise is in transition, with Michael Weatherly's DiNozzo now NCIS director.
Background
NCIS is CBS's long-running naval-investigation drama, and this season the franchise has shifted: actor Michael Weatherly returned as Tony DiNozzo, now the new NCIS director after Director Leon Vance's departure, while Mark Harmon, who plays Leroy Jethro Gibbs, has a more prominent role in the prequel series NCIS: Origins, which he narrates. Origins stars Austin Stowell as a young Gibbs in the early 1990s. The Nov 3 preemption came because CBS aired election-night coverage instead.
How it unfolded
- Oct 6, 2026NCIS: Origins Season 3 premiered, averaging 4.39 million viewers, up 20% from its premiere a year earlier, and was the No. 1 broadcast show in its slot, according to CBS.
- Oct 20, 2026An NCIS: Origins episode aired in which Gibbs (Mark Harmon) reunited with Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), now the new NCIS director, after Gibbs was shot by unknown assailants.
- Oct 28, 2026Origins Season 3 Episode 4 aired, reuniting Gibbs with Bishop in the 2026 timeline; Gibbs told Bishop that Lala died in a plane crash.
- Nov 3, 2026CBS did not air new episodes of NCIS, NCIS: New York and NCIS: Origins, broadcasting CBS News: America Decides: Election 2026 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET instead.
- Nov 10, 2026All three series return with new episodes: NCIS S24E05 "Speechless," NCIS: New York S01E05 "True Love" and NCIS: Origins S03E05 "Baila Esta Cumbia."
Who’s saying what
- Official
- Showrunner Steven D. Binder said the show takes Weatherly's return "one season at a time" and that he doesn't really know about a Season 25.
- Party
- Michael Weatherly said viewers will get "a brand new DiNozzo" for at least this season who is "just like the DiNozzo you knew and loved before," and declined to say how many episodes he appears in.
Still unverified
Whether Gibbs' claim that Lala died in a plane crash is true is presented as doubtful by the source, which asks, "Does anyone believe him? Because we don't."