Did ‘NCIS’ Just Reveal Torres’ Eventual Exit?

Last time Ellie Bishop (Emily Wickersham) was in Nick Torres’ (Wilmer Valderrama) life, they were partners until she shocked him by leaving for a deep cover assignment as a disgraced NCIS agent. They said goodbye, but it was sudden. Her return in the NCIS midseason premiere, which aired on Tuesday, March 3, made up for that.

The two once again said goodbye, but this time, there was more to it — and the possibility of a future together was left open. But did it also set up how NCIS will eventually write out Torres should Valderrama leave before the end of the series? Warning: Spoilers for NCIS Season 23 Episode 10 ahead!

At the end of the midseason premiere, Bishop once again left her former team behind, but this time on much better terms, giving everyone a goodbye. She still had work to do with her black ops unit, including tracking down who was behind one of her former teammates turning on the others and stealing files. But this time, she asked Torres to come with her. “For now, my place is here,” he said, looking over at Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and Jessica Knight (Katrina Law). Hers is “out there,” so they parted with a kiss, and he watched her leave.

Robert Voets/CBS

But could this be how Torres will eventually leave, joining Bishop in her work away from NCIS HQ? Does this mean that he sees a time when he could be ready for that?

“That’s a hard question because at the moment, I would say he made the right choice,” Wilmer Valderrama tells TV Insider. “He has an oath to this team, and he wants to see it through, and no one understands that more than Bishop. And I think she knows that that was a question that needed to be asked. I think a part of her … I don’t know what percentage of the answer, whether it’s 50% yes, I’m coming, 50%, he probably is going to stay, she expected. But what I would say is that he seriously considered it.”

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After all, he continues, “He’s getting to a point in his career where he’s like, ‘Well, I’ve been an agent for 10 years now. Where else does the [world] need an agent like him?’ But as soon as he looked over her shoulder and saw his team, he realized that his job is not finished here, which, I think, is an unpredictable way of thinking about things.”

Valderrama knows fans wanted something “more definite,” he adds. “Is he going to go, is he going to stay? Is she coming back? Is he going? And I think that that’s not what life is. Life’s timing is never really perfect. You’re never going to be fully ready to either go here or go there, but you have to play what you’ve been given in this moment. And in that very moment, that was the right choice.”

What do you think? Do you think this will be how NCIS writes out Torres if Wilmer Valderrama exits before the series finale? Let us know in the comments section below.

NCIS, Tuesdays, 8/7c, CBS