‘NCIS’ Stars Unpack Torres and Bishop’s Season 23 Reunion and That Life-Altering Invitation

“NCIS” gave us a long-awaited reunion for Nick Torres and Eleanor Bishop in Tuesday’s midseason premiere. The big moment also opened the door to a potential endgame scenario for the duo — eventually.

Episode 10, titled “Her,” followed as the former NCIS team member returned to town while being on the run from U.S. authorities. It’s the first time “NCIS” viewers have seen Bishop since star Emily Wickersham’s exit from the CBS crime procedural in 2021, citing a desire to move on to other opportunities as her character abruptly jetted off to a new life working undercover.

So when Katrina Law’s Jessica Knight was tasked with finding Bishop for questioning, after her new associates were caught in some sketchy behavior, the episode became a game of trust for Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) and the rest of the “NCIS” gang. And she didn’t make things easy, knocking both Nick and McGee (Sean Murray) unconscious at different moments before the hour was through as she pursued her own mission.

Still, Nick stayed by the side of his former partner and love interest, even in moments where it seemed she might actually be this episode’s villain of the week.

“It was like riding a bike in many ways. You pick up where you left off,” Valderrama told TheWrap of sharing the screen with Wickersham again for the first time in five years. “We had a lot of fun playing with the things that were there on set before our storyline ended, and we had a great time. We have such a shorthand.”

“I was so excited to get the call [to come back],” Wickersham said of reprising the role during a joint interview. “As Wilmer knows, it’s like a family there that’s been a continuous family for 20+ years, with different characters in and out. It’s such a home to every actor who’s been there.”

The episode followed Bishop as she attempted to gain access to privileged files and was momentarily reunited with her former partner, as well as with many members of the “NCIS” team.

The fan-favorite character, who Wickersham previously played in 172 episodes of the CBS crime procedural as a series regular, kept viewers guessing for most of the hour. She was ultimately revealed to be the good guy after another member of her new team turned out to be the true rogue agent.

“These characters built such a blueprint for one another under Gibbs’s rules and supervision,” she said. “This is family … No matter how word things may look or how confusing it may be for the rest of the team, they have some kind of second nature understanding.”

“There’s an unspoken understanding that, regardless of time or circumstance, they’re there for each other,” Wickersham added.

Before heading out of town — having learned she’s become a Robin Hood of sorts seeking justice from corrupt organizations through at-times unconventional methods — Bishop surprises Nick by inviting him to come with her as they bid farewell. Nick hesitated, but ended up saying he’d stay with NCIS, as that is that place for him, at least for now.

“We want to create the subliminal roadmaps that the audience will probably put together at some point,” Valderrama said of the life-altering invitation. He teased that it sets the stage for a potential follow-up reunion in the future — whether that means for Bishop’s return or Nick going away with her is the question.

“Is this the end of that chapter, or did they just open another one?” Valderrama said of the question fans are being left with by the end of the episode. “We’re going to figure out where this goes.”

Valderrama is celebrating ten years as a series regular on “NCIS,” having joined the show in 2016 and reaching 200 episodes by this season’s end, but he said he still feels like the new guy on set. This episode helped his character reach a “full circle” moment, getting a proper goodbye with Bishop after her abrupt exit in the Season 18 finale.

“Bishop had chosen her own journey and Torres, in that moment, realized he wasn’t part of that plan,” he said. “What hurt was that she was leaving without saying goodbye. There is a reason why it happened the way it did [then]. And with this episode, we now know why.”

“NCIS” airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount+.

The post ‘NCIS’ Stars Unpack Torres and Bishop’s Season 23 Reunion and That Life-Altering Invitation appeared first on TheWrap.