‘NCIS’: The Cases Are Personal in the Season 18 Promo (VIDEO)

Meredith Jacobs November 5, 2020, 1:30 pm

Fornell Gibbs NCIS Season 18 Premiere Sturgeon Season Spano Harmon — Sonja Flemming/CBS

We may know why Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) returned from a previously-undisclosed mission (it’ll be revealed with a jump back in time when Season 18 begins) with a black eye.

As the new trailer for NCIS shows, Gibbs and his old friend Tobias Fornell (Joe Spano) aren’t necessarily going to be on the same page when it comes to their search for the leader of the drug ring that supplied the counterfeit opioids that could have killed the former FBI agent’s daughter, Emily (Juliette Angelo).

“If we do this, we do it the right way,” Gibbs says, but as executive producer Steven Binder told TV Insider, “Fornell’s daughter has been hurt by this epidemic, so he’s a little more fiery.” That might explain why it looks like the two get into a scuffle and Fornell might be responsible for that nasty gash over Gibbs’ eye.

Meanwhile, the team is working cases, but they’re not necessarily run-of-the-mill. For example, we seem to get a look at Dr. Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) discovering a cadaver is missing from the autopsy room, and Special Agent Veronica “Ronnie” Tyler’s (guest star Victoria Platt) daughter is missing.

Plus, Special Agent Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) reports “a federal agent in possible danger,” and somebody’s targeting the team?! Watch the video below for more.