Will ‘NCIS’ Be Canceled? Show Isn’t ‘Slowing Down,’ CBS Exec Promises
NCIS isn’t going anywhere. More than 450 episodes into its run, the CBS drama about naval criminal investigators hasn’t lost any steam – or the support of the network. The show, which had its 21st season premiere on Feb. 12, isn’t “slowing down anytime soon,” a CBS executive recently promised.
‘NCIS’ is still going strong after 20 seasons
For any show to last 20 seasons is an impressive feat, especially in today’s competitive TV environment. But NCIS has managed to pull it off. The JAG spinoff, which premiered in September 2003 is now one of the longest-running scripted primetime shows in TV history. It trails only The Simpsons, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order, Family Guy, and Gunsmoke in terms of total episodes aired.
Even more impressive? NCIS has weathered major cast changes, such as the departures of stars Mark Harmon and Pauley Perrette, without losing its loyal audience. And it could keep going for years to come, CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach told Deadline.
“I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon,” she said. “It’s a fantastic cast with a fantastic writing staff that’s been there a really long time. They’re just as reenergized today as they were as when I started on the show in season 8 [as current executive].”
One ‘NCIS’ insider thinks the show could ‘go forever’
For now, CBS is firmly committed to NCIS, provided the cast is still on board.
“So, as long as they want to keep it going, we’re thrilled to be on the NCIS train,” Reisenbach said. “Gary [Cole] and Wilmer [Valderrama] and Sean [Murray] and Katrina [Law], all of them, they love doing the show. So we hope to continue on for quite a while.”
She’s not the only one who is confident that NCIS still has lots of life left in it.
“Speaking as the studio, I think it can go forever,” CBS Studios president David Stapf told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023 for its oral history of NCIS.
While NCIS has not yet been renewed for season 22, those involved in the show are looking to a future beyond season 21.
“We have not been told by the network, ‘Wrap it up at the end of the 21st year,’” executive producer Charles Floyd Johson said. “So I think it’s open-ended. We are proceeding as if we’re going to continue.”
Wilmer Valderrama says the success of ‘NCIS’ is ‘remarkable’
Valderrama, who plays agent Nick Torres, knows there’s something special about NCIS.
“[A] show like NCIS … still going strong at 21 years is remarkable,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2023. “The writers are still swinging, the actors are still fresh and also swinging hard.”
“To do a procedural and actually have the stamina to do 22 episodes a season with episodes that are still that good with performances that are still energetic and fun, there’s something to be said about that,” he added.
The fans play a big role in NCIS’s success as well, he said.
“It’s also a show that continues to be welcomed by new generations of fans, passed from one generation to the next — there’s something really unique about that,” he said.
NCIS Season 21 airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Episodes also stream on Paramount+.
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