Does NCIS season 15 need a big finale cliffhanger?

We are still several weeks away from the NCIS season 15 finale airing on CBS, but at the same time it’s not too early to start some of the conversation regarding some of the important things that can happen around it.

Let’s kick things off here with this: Should there be another big cliffhanger? If you recall, season 14 ended on a fairly-big one as we watched Gibbs and McGee be captured and stranded from the rest of the team. We cannot exactly say that this was the most shocking cliffhanger ever, mostly because it felt clear that both guys would be making it out okay and there wasn’t really a whole lot of drama around it. Nonetheless, it did provide a template for a very good premiere with the rescue mission and the team banding together in order to save them.

As for season 15, one major reason to do a big cliffhanger is just for the sake of keeping everyone on board. Pauley Perrette is leaving at the end of this season and with that, the writers may feel the need to cultivate something else to keep people excited and talking about next season. Making a cliffhanger here could be a pretty great way in which to do that.

Meanwhile, cliffhangers are also just typically great ways in which to generate conversations around some of your shows, which we do think for the most part are always welcome and needed. Don’t you want to get a little bit more discussion going if you are an NCIS producer? Other than actors leaving and other tabloid stories, it doesn’t get too many headlines at present.

As for why there may not be a cliffhanger…

There’s a pretty simple answer for that and it simply ties back into what’s happening at the moment with contract talks. It’s not altogether clear at present who is coming back this season. Therefore, it’s hard to make some sort of cliffhanger unless it’s one where you leave the fate of many characters up in the balance in case someone doesn’t come back … and we don’t want that. Cliffhangers work a little bit better, for the most part, when you’ve got a good sense as to who is staying and who is departing.

Related – Preview the new episode of NCIS airing on CBS Tuesday night!

Do you think that there needs to be a big NCIS season 15 finale cliffhanger? Be sure to share right now in the comments!

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