This year has been packed with a lot of good news for the NCIS franchise. The flagship show is returning for Season 22 this fall, the Leroy Jethro Gibbs-focused prequel NCIS: Origins will also debut on the 2024 TV schedule, NCIS: Sydney was renewed for a second season, and the Paramount+-exclusive spinoff NCIS: Tony & Ziva is filming now. However, there’s also been some bad news, because CBS canceled NCIS: Hawai’i after three seasons. It’s now the shortest-lived of the NCIS shows, and the creative team just broke their silence on the cancelation, admitting that it “still stings.”
It’s been three months since NCIS: Hawai’i was axed from CBS’ programming lineup, and showrunners Jan Nash, Christopher Silber and Matt Bosack spoke with TVLine about how they reacted when they learned the news, among other topics. The trio collectively told the outlet:
We were obviously surprised. If we’d known it was coming, we probably wouldn’t have ended the series on a cliffhanger. The fact that the studio and the network didn’t stop us makes it seem like they might not have seen it coming either. We loved our show and know other people loved it, too, but the TV business is a fickle mistress and one can’t take business decisions personally. But it still stings.
NCIS: Hawai’i lead actor Vanessa Lachey said that she was “blindsided” by the cancelation shortly after the news broke, and costars Jason Antoon and Tori Anderson expressed the same sentiment. Antoon specifically noted that “this business is brutal,” and while Nash, Silber and Bosack agreed and are trying not to take this personally, they do wish they’d have known Hawai’i Season 3 would be the last one so they could have ended the series without any lingering plot threads. Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out that way, resulting in the show delivering a frustrating cliffhanger.
After the cancelation, Antoon tolled CBS over its decision by sharing an article noting that NCIS: Hawai’i was ranked No. 16 in total viewers for the 2023-2024 TV season. Shortly thereafter, CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach described canceling Hawai’i, So Help Me Todd and CSI: Vegas as “extremely tough calls to make.” Hawai’i was the third NCIS spinoff, following Los Angeles, which ran for 14 seasons, and New Orleans, which ran for seven seasons.
While TVLine’s sources have said there were “talks” about finding a new home for NCIS: Hawai’i, they didn’t “pan out.” As such, Jan Nash, Christopher Silber and Matt Bosack thanked the fans for their support and said they “share their passion and heartbreak.” While this doesn’t necessarily rule out the possibility that certain Hawai’i characters could resurface on one of the other shows, it’s definitely the end of an era, with many people agreeing that it happened too soon.
If you’d like to revisit NCIS: Hawai’i or watch its three seasons for the first time, it can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription. Otherwise, continue checking in with CinemaBlend for coverage on all the NCIS franchise shows that are still around.