Fan-favorite NCIS: LA is now several weeks into Season 13, but many viewers are already wondering whether or not the series will be invited back to CBS for Season 14. The network was rather slow on a pick-up for the current set of episodes (it wasn’t officially renewed until late April, after franchise sibling NCIS: New Orleans got the boot), so it does beg the question: Will NCIS: LA end after this season? Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer on that just yet.
NCIS: LA just aired its fifth episode, so while it’s still pretty early in its season, you can bet that those who love the popular military procedural aren’t the only ones wondering about Season 14. As noted, the cast and crew had to do quite a bit of waiting and wondering while the network decided on whether or not we’d be able to continue following Sam, Callen, Kensi, Deeks, and the rest of the OSP team. When asked by TV Line recently about the show possibly ending after this season, showrunner R. Scott Gemmill said:
We sort of always have that in the back of our mind [but] I will hope to get a heads-up if that is the case, just so that we can go out with an episode, or a bunch of episodes, that really tie up things and send our characters in to the future in a way that makes everyone happy. But we’ll just have to wait and see. If there is someone that knows, they’re not telling me.
Yeah, this is always the tricky bit, especially with procedural shows like NCIS: LA. While there are some series where the showrunner goes into the process with a set number of seasons as the end goal, and already has the major beats of that full story mapped out, we’ve seen that a series like this tends to last for as long as everyone is still interested in making it and watching it. So, while Gemmill and his team are considering what moves they might make were they to be told that things were coming to an end, if they haven’t been filled in on the future of NCIS: LA yet, they can’t quite begin to lay that groundwork in the episodes.
It can certainly feel like a bit of a nightmare to hear that one of your favorite shows has been cancelled, but imagine how much worse it would be if that news came down after the most recent season ended, or when things were so far along that it was nearly impossible to wrap things up correctly. As R. Scott Gemmill noted, the best thing would be for them to hear about the cancellation as early as possible, so that they can work on making the end of the season work as a real finale. I mean, after watching NCIS: LA for 13 seasons, the fans deserve to at least know whether or not Kensi and Deeks are gonna have a kid before the credits roll for the last time, right?
NCIS: LA continues Season 13 on CBS, every Sunday at 9 p.m. EST, but for more to watch, check out our 2021 fall TV schedule!
