‘NCIS: Hawai’i’: 3 Major Questions We Still Need Answered After Series Finale

Meredith Jacobs May 7, 2024, 1:31 pm

Yasmine Al-Bustami as Lucy Tara and Vanessa Lachey as Jane Tennant in 'NCIS: Hawai'i' Season 3 Episode 9 — Karen Neal / CBS

NCIS: Hawai’i left off on quite the cliffhanger in what was meant to just be the Season 3 finale. Instead, it ended up being the series finale, and this comes after a shortened season that set up a few things that could have easily been explored going forward.

For instance, a tease about team leader Jane Tennant’s (Vanessa Lachey) and Lucy’s (Yasmine Al-Bustami) and Kate’s (Tori Anderson) conversation about a wedding set up plenty for the agents off the clock. And the final scene involving Jane could have led to anything for the team to deal with.

Below, we take a look at the three major questions that might not ever be answered because NCIS: Hawai’i was canceled.

What Brings Maggie Back?

In the last scene of the series, Jane arrives home to find her former mentor-turned-fugitive, Maggie (Julie White), waiting. She told Jane her daughter was not there and “You’re probably going to need a drink for what’s coming next.”

First of all, should there be any concern that Jane’s daughter isn’t there when she should be? Or is Maggie there for something else and Julie just so happens to not be home? Assuming that is the case, is it something related to Jane and Maggie’s past with the CIA? Another case? A threat that Jane doesn’t even know about yet?

What Would a Reunion Between Jane & Her Mother Look Like?

Earlier this season, after sustaining a head injury, Jane hallucinated a woman giving her shelter in a cabin in the jungle. Upon returning home, she realized that the woman was her mother, looking the same way she did the day she abandoned her. She saw it as a sign that “our story’s not over yet.” And it sounds like exploring that was the plan.

NCIS: LA star Daniela Ruah directed that episode and told TV Insider there were discussions about certain decisions regarding those scenes, including how to present this version of Jane’s mother. “It’s really, really important, the sense of, maybe her mother saw her as a bother, and so that’s how she perceived this woman who opens the door and she’s like, ‘I don’t want you here. I want you to leave,’” she explained. “Because maybe that’s the sensation she feels of why maybe her mother left, ‘Was I a bother to my mother?’ Whether those things are true or not for that character, those are the things that we had to discuss. The showrunners are still are exploring this journey for Jane Tennant, so there aren’t a whole lot of concrete answers. So I just had to figure out what made sense for this episode and leave enough open that they can keep building on it.”

Will Lucy and Kate Get Married?

Season 3 also saw the couple go undercover as newlyweds, which led to a discussion about weddings—and Lucy and Kate weren’t on the same page, given what they thought could be in their futures growing up. “I knew from a young age that my parents weren’t going to give me one of those,” Lucy explained. “I just figured I’d never get married, so why dream?” Kate’s mother, however, had been planning her wedding since she was 17.

“What I would love to see—I haven’t discussed it with our writers—is that because this is the first time that you’re seeing them kind of talk about that and they didn’t really go into too much detail, but you see their individual viewpoints on it because they have their own viewpoints on it, I feel like if they were to discuss it some more, it seems like Kate is a little more open to and her family is very accepting to the fact that she would have a wedding,” Al-Bustami told us at the time. “But I feel like Kate could possibly have Lucy see a different or open her up more to the idea of possibly having a wedding with Kate, with the right person. And right now, I hope it’s Kate.”

What are the major questions you still have? What would you have liked to see in an NCIS: Hawai’i Season 4? Let us know in the comments section, below.