LL Cool J‘s character Sam Hanna has a rocky return to his old neighborhood on NCIS: NY.
In Us‘ exclusive first look at the Tuesday, October 27, episode of the CBS show, Nick Schaeffer (Scott Caan) joins Sam in his old stomping grounds in Queens — St. Albans — to investigate a case.
“This is it,” Sam says before admitting it feels like “a lifetime” ago. “It’s a trip. Same air, same vibe, same energy — or maybe I am different. I don’t know. It is hard to explain.”
Nick asks Sam what he was like as a child, to which he replies, “[I was] just a little kid on the corner trying to make it and fighting my way out.”
The homecoming takes a turn when Sam and Nick visit a local councilman — only to see him in a loud argument with a local. Luckily, Sam is familiar with the other man, who is his old friend and mentor (played by Malik Yoba).
According to the official episode description, a deadly armored truck robbery at the Naval Corps Credit Union “sets the team in search of the sniper responsible.”
“As their investigation leads them to a trail of veterans who fell through the cracks, Sam and Nick are brought to Sam’s old neighborhood in Queens,” the synopsis continues.
LL Cool J’s character was introduced during season 6 of NCIS in 2009. He went on to become the colead of NCIS: Los Angeles that fall alongside Chris O’Donnell, who played his partner.
When NCIS: Los Angeles ended its 14-season run in 2023, LL Cool J, 58, briefly moved to NCIS: Hawai’i for season 2. The following year, he was upgraded to a series regular for season 3, which ended up being the show’s last.
LL Cool J returned to NCIS multiple times after NCIS: Los Angeles ended. He appeared on seasons 20 and 22, most recently having a two-episode arc during season 23 this year.
“New York is our most iconic city. It’s incredible, and it’s just really a microcosm of the whole country right here in one place with all of the diversity, the different boroughs, the different cultures all colliding and somehow managing to function together,” showrunner Byron Balasco exclusively told Us earlier this month. “That’s why you make a show here.”
Balasco acknowledged that filming in New York City came with highlights — and challenges.
“The weather is a challenge because you just don’t know what’s going to happen. But that’s it. That’s just a problem to solve,” he shared. “And the highlights are you can really put your camera anywhere and point it anywhere and something interesting is happening. We can go to a neighborhood that we write about and shoot there.”
He continued: “We always try to do that to keep it as authentic as possible because you really want people to feel like they’re at the ground level on the streets in the city with our guys. It feels lived in. The cliche is that New York is a character in the show, but we really do want to make it feel that way.”
Balasco hinted that NCIS: New York will appeal to CBS viewers regardless of whether they have seen other shows in the franchise.
“Our goal is to make a show that has the DNA of the universe but is its own thing. We’ll be cross-pollinating with other shows. But right now, it’s about our characters and our stories and really getting it up on its feet and having people fall in love with the characters,” he concluded.
NCIS: New York airs on CBS Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Paramount+.
