NCIS season 16: Three characters (beyond Ziva) worthy of returning

NCIS

It feels like one thing that is pretty much a consensus at this point — there’s a hunger to see Ziva back on NCISThe writers basically turned this hunger into starvation earlier this year with the episode “She.”

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Because it’s so clear that the demand for Ziva is there (by the way, it’s there for us EQUALLY so), we wanted to take the conversation in a slightly different direction here. What other characters could we want to see back in this world? Are there notable characters worthy of another guest spot? One of the best things about NCIS is that it’s got an incredibly-deep bench. That’s the end result of being on the air for a decade and a half. Sure, some characters are harder to bring back than others (i.e. some are dead), but we aren’t ruling out anything if the story is right.

Take a look at three humble suggestions from us below…

Hollis Mann – If Gibbs and Sloane ever become something more, it’d be curious to explore some other relationship from his past. Bringing back Susanna Thompson (who hasn’t appeared on the show in years) could be an intriguing way to do that. We also thought about a Shannon Gibbs appearance (who doesn’t love Darby Stanchfield, and Scandal is now over!), but it’s a little hard to do that unless you have Gibbs cycling through appearances of his dead wife in his mind. You have to pitch the story perfectly on an emotional level in order for that to work and not feel egregiously corny.

Tobias Fornell – We’re always going to be pleased to see Fornell on this show, given that the character does bring out a slightly-different side of Gibbs. There are a lot of people on the team he cares about, but very few of them does he have the history with that he does with Fornell. Their connection goes back to days of sorrow, vulnerability, and pain. Having him back now just gives Gibbs another emotional outlet; plus, Fornell does have a knack for getting himself mixed up into different cases in a really fun way — which we’ve seen recently. His last appearance on the show was a little more recent than the other two, but we really think Fornell is good for two or three episodes a season. Also we are still pushing for that Fornell P.I. spin off – can someone make that happen please?

Alex Quinn – This was one of the most-sudden exits for a series-regular character ever. She was there, and then she wasn’t. What gives with that? While she may not have been every single NCIS fan’s favorite character, there was still some investment in that character and it would’ve been nice to see a little bit of closure here with this story. Also, you gotta think that she still has some value to Gibbs and the rest of the team if the situation called on it.

What about some other possibilities?

We of course strongly considered Abby, but mostly because of the fact that Pauley Perrette has a new CBS pilot and it could be a worthy bit of cross-promotion. The more that we thought about it, though, the more we realized that there really isn’t all that much of a reason story-wise to bring her back since her story is tied up and she’s not even working in this field anymore.

Obviously, Tony DiNozzo is another, but we feel like he kind of goes along with Ziva at this point. So long as Bull remains on the air, why bend over backwards to schedule a Tony appearance that doesn’t involve her in some capacity? One person we would be beyond excited to see again is Diane Neal as Abigail Borin, but she’s shifted more into the political realm as of late and doesn’t have any major screen credits from the past few years.

Who would you like to see turn up again on NCIS in the future?

Sound off with any potential thoughts you may have in the comments! Remember, the next new episode, thanks to a most-unfortunate delay, airs Tuesday on CBS. (Photo: CBS.)

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