Can NCIS season 16 feature Tobias Fornell more as a PI?

While we understand that Joe Spano may only appear in a handful of NCIS episodes a season as Tobias Fornell, it feels clear that there are always some reasons to bring him back into the fold. For starters, there is the relationship that he’s had for many years with Gibbs — it’s one of the closest friendships he has and the two have been through a lot of good times and bad together. Beyond just that, they’ve also worked in law enforcement for so long that they are capable of collaborating on various investigations.

Moving into season 16, though, the relationship is a little different now that Fornell is in the PI business. We saw a little bit of this in season 15, but as we start to move into next season, is it something that we could see a little bit more of?

With Fornell as a private investigator, one of the things that is the most intriguing is him potentially being able to do things that other people cannot. We know that Gibbs, for example, is the sort of guy who likes to be by-the-book on just about everything. With that in mind, if there’s something that needs to be done that he’s not capable of doing in his current post, why not call up Fornell and have him do it? Clearly, the rules between all of them are different. Fornell can be able to take a few more risks out in the field and use his FBI experience to still chase down some leads and get some answers in a rather-unorthodox way. There’s a lot of value in him going down his own path and solving problems his own way.

We could see Fornell being useful to the NCIS team at least a few times a year, and beyond that, Tobias being useful to Gibbs at any point that he’s in a personal crisis. There’s certainly a chance of that happening over the course of this coming season as he’s trying to adjust to a new dynamic on the team with Abby gone. If the series ever does choose to go down the romantic road for Gibbs and Sloane, you can certainly also make the case that Fornell is a good person for Gibbs to speak to about the subject.

Related – Check out our recent NCIS spotlight on Jimmy Palmer!

Do you want to see Fornell more as a PI or a friend moving into NCIS season 16? Be sure to share right now in the comments!

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