NCIS season 16 finale spoilers: Who’s in jeopardy? + Fornell returning

As we do get closer and closer to the NCIS season 16 finale, there are some interesting details starting to trickle in! Today, we’ve got some interesting news all about notable guest stars for this final episode, coupled also with a storyline that could apparently have a certain degree of peril to it. (Start shuddering in fear now…)

If you missed it, you can check out a video below where we discuss the rumors surrounding the title of the finale! While this may not seem like much on the surface, it’s definitely something worthy of discussion. For more scoop, subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube and also view our official NCIS playlist to get a constant stream of further updates.

Let’s start with the subject of danger. Speaking in a new interview with TVLine, executive producer Steven Binder notes that “[a] younger member of the NCIS family, so to speak, lands in serious jeopardy” during this episode. What does that mean? The most interesting words in here, at least to us, are “so to speak,” so that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s someone directly a part of the team. This may lead some credence to the idea that it could be Ziva who is in danger, prompting Bishop to tell everyone else what she knows about her. This, in turn, could lead into some sort of exciting, super-dramatic search for her … though at this point, we’re largely creating fanfiction in our own head.

There’s another, more likely way to read this based on the information we’ve gotten in the aforementioned report — Joe Spano is returning in the finale as Tobias Fornell, and we’re also hearing that (somehow) Melinda McGraw is appearing as Diane Sterling. Given that this character, an ex of both Gibbs and Fornell both, is appearing, how will that work? It’s possible it’s a flashback or just some form of a dream sequence. Based on the evidence here, a simple guess is that it’s Emily Fornell who turns out in danger and the team has to find a way to rescue her. The clues from the better part of the past several weeks suggest that the person in trouble is Ziva, but the clues here (including the “so to speak” and also the specific actors returning) lean more in the direction of Emily. Remember that there’s a universe where we could have both a Fornell-based story and the Ziva plot, while the latter serves more as a B-story or is told parallel to some other events.

For now, all of this is information worth storing away — as are some of the other thoughts that Binder shared about how there is certainly a lot of story to explore within the Ziva mythology, should the show go down the road of bringing her back. It could be a big surprise at the end of season 16 … or it could be a compelling tease leading into season 17.

What do you think about the idea of seeing Fornell again in the NCIS finale, and do you have any theories as to how some stuff could play out? Let us know in the comments. (Photo: CBS.)

This article was written by Jessica Carter. Be sure to follow her on Twitter.