NCIS Put Knight Through A Job-Threatening Case, But I’m Worried About A Bigger Problem Looming On The Show

Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS episode “Army of One” are ahead!

One week after Ellie Bishop’s brief return on the 2026 TV schedule, NCIS is back to business as usual… well, kind of. The good news is that although the events of the episode “Army of One” threatened Jessica Knight’s job, she was still with the team by the end of the episode. The bad news is that there’s a bigger job-related problem looming on the horizon, and I’m worried about how it could affect our team of protagonists for the rest of NCIS Season 23 and potentially even Season 24.

Jessica Knight Briefly Left NCIS

“Army of One” saw Jessica Knight being called in by Army CID to help out when a man named Ryan Harper who barricaded himself in an ammunition warehouse and would only speak to her. It turns out Ryan used to be Knight’s informant who helped her take down a drug lord seven years earlier, and from there he joined the army to turn his life around. The problem was that he claimed he was being set up for a variety of crimes, including killing his friend Joseph Yates and smuggling cocaine through the charity that he and Yates started. In a state of panic, Ryan caused that scene at the warehouse, and CID shot him when they mistakenly thought he’d grabbed a detonator.

Eventually the evidence pointing to Ryan being a criminal looked so bad that Knight decided to resign from NCIS, as she didn’t want her misplaced faith in Ryan all those years ago to tarnish the agency’s reputation. Thankfully, that resignation was short-lived, as Ryan was indeed being framed. The culprit ended up being his girlfriend, who was actually the daughter of the drug lord he helped Knight put away. So Ryan’s innocence was proved as he began to recover from being shot, and Knight resumed her NCIS duties.

Is NCIS Setting Up One Of The Lead Characters Leaving?

Early on in “Army of One,” Nick Torres passed along a rumor he heard that Army CID is being shut down, and that the agency needed a win to make itself look good. As such, Jessica Knight had a rocky time working with CID Major Malone on the Ryan Harper case, with Knight initially believing that Malone was somehow involved with framing Ryan, and Malone believing that Knight was either in cahoots with Ryan or a poor judge of character given the evidence shining a bad light on him. Fortunately, they were able to get on the same page apprehend Ryan’s girlfriend together. Unfortunately for Malone, he asks Knight to keep him in mind for a job at NCIS, as the CID shutdown rumors are apparently true.

There have been various references during NCIS Season 23 of the title organization facing possible budget cuts. Jimmy Palmer actor Brian Dietzen even told me in December that this would “fuel some major storylines” in the latter half of the season. Now obviously I don’t think NCIS will be shut down in this universe as well, because as I already mentioned, the show has another season on the way. I do, however, think that it will face a major shakeup because of these budget cuts, which could be a problem for the lead characters.

To get more specific, Dietzen shared with me in a more recent interview that NCIS’s 500th episode will be “very atypical” compared to previous milestone episodes because it will “change the way NCIS operates from here on out.” Additionally, I’ve been worried this season that the show is paving the way for Sean Murray’s exit as Timothy McGee. I doubt he’ll be fired given his seniority and track record, but between these budget cuts and his Deep Six books being frequently referenced this season (and the focus of “Page-Turner”), I could measly see McGee leaving the agency to focus on his writing more.

Something big is coming to NCIS, and it’s only a matter of weeks until we learn what it is. So keep checking back with CinemaBlend for continuing coverage as new episodes air on CBS Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. You can also stream the show and its various spinoffs with a Paramount+ subscription.