‘NCIS’ season 11 spoilers: The return of Rachel Cranston

How much do you love it when “NCIS” taps into some of their past? If you do, then we figure that you might very well appreciate something that the CBS drama is pulling out for one of their early 2014 episodes: The return of a character with ties to the series’ early days.

According to TVLine, Wendy Makkena is going to return as Dr. Cranston in the upcoming 14th episode of the season, but the question for now is: Why? When you remember what she does for a living in the field of psychology, you know that there has to be a pretty good reason for her to turn up. There are a few characters who are currently going through stuff, with Tony being at the top of the list. He has already shown himself to be struggling somewhat from the exit of Ziva, who he was finally starting to admit to having deep feelings for just as she left. Last we saw with him, he was meeting with what was basically a support group of other guys.

While Dr. Cranston (the one Cranston we know who does not late become Heisenberg) was not around herself in the early seasons of the show, she is the sister of Caitlin Todd, the former NCIS Agent who died way back at the end of season 2. Therefore, she at least brings a certain element of history and care when it comes to some of the other team members that were around during those days. It’s still crazy to think that this was nine years ago, and so many of the people around then are still there and loving their jobs as much as ever.

“NCIS” is going to return to TV on Tuesday, January 7 with “Kill Chain,” an episode that you can read a little bit more about at the link here.