Did you miss Special Agent Sam Hanna? If you do, we have some promising news for you. Actor and rapper LL Cool J, who portrayed the said role, is finally making his comeback. YEP, he’s in for a brief stint in season 23 of NCIS, a military police procedural drama that first graced our screens back in 2003. Curious? Check out all the exciting details on his return below!
LL Cool J returns as Sam Hanna in a two-episode guest arc on NCIS
LL Cool J brought Sam Hanna back to screens on April 21 in an episode of the original NCIS titled Reboot, kicking off a two-part guest arc that will stretch until April 28. Mind you, his appearance is not just a nostalgic play. Meanwhile, CBS dropped the bigger news alongside it, confirming that NCIS: New York is officially set to release in fall 2026. And guess what? LL Cool J will reprise his role as Sam Hanna, with Scott Caan joining as his new partner.
As for Cool J’s guest cameo in Reboot, his character, Sam, arrives as an unexpected ally when forensic scientist Kasie Hines and a skeleton crew find themselves trapped inside a darkened NCIS headquarters. The situation unfolds during a midnight mainframe upgrade, with an unidentified intruder hunting them through the powerless building.
It is the kind of stripped-back, tension-heavy setup that gives a returning character room to breathe without turning the guest appearance into a full crossover event. LL Cool J was careful to describe the two NCIS episodes as bridges rather than backdoor pilots. “There’ll be some lines in there that set up New York,” he told Deadline, adding that his character’s motivation for the move east connects to the death of Director Leon Vance.
“There will be a little bit of a tease of that, just enough. You’ll feel it,” he added. On what Sam Hanna looks like in New York versus Los Angeles, he had a very self-inspired way of explaining it. “Sam Hanna is Sam Hanna, but the thing that’s different is the context,” he said. “You’re going to be surrounded with New York energy, put him in a New York environment with the New York electricity, and you get a different guy. It’s like 1 + 3 is four, and 5 − 1 is four, and 3 + 1 is four, but it’s still four.”
The spinoff is written and created by R. Scott Gemmill, who spent all 14 seasons of NCIS: Los Angeles as a writer and seven as showrunner, and now also runs The Pitt on HBO Max. Moreover, Byron Balasco, creator of the Audience Network drama Kingdom, will serve as showrunner on New York.
The series has received a 20-episode order and will air Tuesdays at 9 pm, slotting in directly after the mothership, which is heading into its 24th season. For CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach, the logic was simple. “LL is like a member of the CBS family. There’s a huge port and Navy presence in New York City. It just makes creative sense,” she explained.
