NCIS season 17: Will stories be carried over to season 18?

At this point, it’s probably clear to a lot of you that we’re in a very strange spot when it comes to the future of NCIS. We know that there are still episodes to enjoy this season. However, at the same time there are also a number of long-term mysteries. It’s still unclear as to what sort of stories are planned now for the spring, and which ones are going to be put on hold.

Here’s what we know for now — there are 20 episodes that will air in total this season. That means, effectively, that we’ve got three more to watch. The next episode is going to have a heavy Sloane focus, while episode 19 will revolve around Jimmy and Kasie. (Read more about that here.) There are no official details out there about the finale, but we’d say that, more than likely, it’s going to be somewhat standalone in nature. NCIS doesn’t tend to do super-serialized stuff until right around the finale and the show wasn’t quite there yet.

For some more NCIS video discussion, check out our take on the end of filming below. Once you do that, be sure to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube and then view our full series playlist. We’ll have other updates coming soon.

So what happens to some of the stories left behind this season? We’d say that, in general, not all that much should change about them other than the timing. Provided that the writers have an opportunity to still use their previous scripts, they probably will — including what was planned for the 400th episode. (Our feeling is that most of these scripts were planned out prior to production being shut down — some may have already been written.) We could see there being a few changes depending on guest-star availability and timing, but that’s it.

The biggest mystery to us comes with what was planned to be the season 17 finale, given that it was written to be the last installment for a while. Does that episode still work airing in the middle of season 18? We could see a few things changing with its ending — or, maybe production will want to keep it the same so that viewers would get a sense of what the finale could’ve looked like. If nothing else, maybe these installments get people stoked for what season 18 could’ve looked like.

In general, though, we anticipate very few of the stories planned being scrapped — delayed is a much better way to describe them, if the writers like what they’ve already done. (Just know we’re not expecting these four episodes lost in season 17 to be added to 24 for a possible season 18 — the show will probably just d0 24 episodes again, with four of them being what they could’ve done this season.)

What do you want NCIS to do with some of these episodes planned for the spring?

Share in the comments below! Also, remember to stick around for some other news on the series. (Photo: CBS.)

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