Is Hannah’s Job in Danger After the ‘NCIS: New Orleans’ Season Premiere?

Judgement Call
Spoiler Alert
Sam Lothridge/CBS

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Season 6 premiere of NCIS: New Orleans, “Judgement Call.”]

If the NCIS: New Orleans premiere made one thing clear, it’s that Hannah (Necar Zadegan) needs to worry about her future at the agency.

During a joint investigation with the FBI, Hannah disregards orders to save two women before the two teams breach the house. After the operation, FBI Agent Harper (Adam David Thompson) blames her for everything that goes wrong: two of his men were shot, and someone escaped with a bomb loaded with VX gas. He runs it up the chain of command, and Hannah is suspended.

Though there’s an official inquiry, she can tell that there’s something else going on. Why else would the NCIS Deputy Director, Van Cleef (Richard Thomas), fly down from Washington? “We’ll make sure the record reflects your paranoia,” he tells her.

But it turns out she’s right to suspect there’s more than meets the eye. After Hannah is the one to talk the man with the bomb down, Van Cleef congratulates Pride (Scott Bakula) and blames Hannah for the situation being so dire. He knows Pride is loyal to his people but describes Hannah as “unpredictable and a risk to her fellow agents.”

“This goes far beyond her time in New Orleans” and what that means is “not your concern,” Van Cleef says. But Pride refuses to let Hannah be done. Instead, he cuts a deal: Hannah’s demoted, and Pride returns to lead the team. She knows that if their roles had been reversed, he’d be getting a medal (which is exactly what he gets, unofficially, for Apollyon, despite being read the riot act).

And while she’s tempted to quit and get a job in the private sector, Ryan (Hal Ozsan) points out she wouldn’t be in New Orleans. And she’s clearly not going anywhere with the promise she made to her daughter to attend every one of her games.

(CBS)

However, her future at NCIS is still uncertain. The top brass, or at least Van Cleef, wants her gone, and it’s unlikely he’s going to just let it go because of the deal Pride made. Now it’s a question of what about her past raises red flags and when this mystery will be revealed. And does Hannah have an inkling of what it is? She tells Pride she has no clue, but we’ll have to wait and see if that’s the truth.

Whatever happens next, we have a feeling that Hannah might have to step up at work at some point in the near future. Pride’s been having trouble sleeping. “When I do, the dreams are vivid, unsettling, gotten to the point where I don’t want to close my eyes,” he admits to Loretta (CCH Pounder). And he has one of those dreams at the end of the episode.

Are you worried about Hannah’s future at NCIS? Are you worried about Pride?

NCIS: New Orleans, Tuesdays, 10/9c, CBS