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NCIS fans are going to have to wait a little bit longer for new episodes of their favorite show. 

The CBS procedural was originally supposed to return from its midseason break on Tuesday, February 24. But the network had to make a change to its plans in order to accommodate the 2026 State of the Union address. 

President Donald Trump will address Congress starting at 9 p.m. ET. All the major broadcast networks will broadcast the speech, which means some changes to their typical schedules. For CBS, that means that the midseason premieres of NCIS, NCIS: Sydney, and NCIS: Origins has been pushed back to Tuesday, March 3. 

Emily Wickersham returns to ‘NCIS’

The March 3 episode of NCIS features the return of Emily Wickersham as Eleanor “Ellie” Bishop, five years after she left the show in season 18. In “Her,” Knight (Katrina Law), who is on her first NCIS: Elite mission, is given orders to hunt down and arrest Bishop after the former member of the NCIS team is designated a wanted cyber-terrorist. In need of someone to trust, Bishop turns to Torres (Wilmer Valderrama), and the two come face to face for the first time since she abruptly left nearly five years ago. The episode, which is directed by series star Rocky Carroll, airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT 

Wickersham said it “was great to step back into [Bishop’s] shoes” after so many years.

“I love playing this character so much, and I love that she’s changed so much, as I have,” she told TV Insider. “I’ve been through a few battles. I have children now, and my life has totally changed from when I was on the show. And Bishop also has just been through such a change since leaving NCIS, and we don’t exactly get into totally what it is — we skirt it — but she’s seen some stuff, some stuff that she had not seen when she was working at NCIS. So that was cool to come back with that baggage, this new Bishop, this almost… I guess I don’t want to say darker, but just baggage.”

What to expect from ‘NCIS: Sydney’ and ‘NCIS: Origins’ on March 3

NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney are also both new on March 3. 

On NCIS: Origins, the team discovers Gibbs’ (Austin Stowell) drunken Vegas elopement with Diane (Kathleen Kenny). Meanwhile, the newlyweds contemplate their future. Also, the team investigates a fatal movie theater bombing with a connection to the Pruitt compound where Franks’ brother Mason (Philip Winchester) is staying. “Fools Rush In” airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT. 

On NCIS: Sydney, the team races to an Antarctica research base to investigate why a climate scientist killed a colleague on the eve of polar night – and make it out before their plane engine freezes and they’re trapped in darkness for six months. “South of Nowhere” airs at 10 p.m. ET/PT. 

All three NCIS shows stream on Paramount+, live and on demand for Paramount+ Premium plan subscribers or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs.

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