‘NCIS,’ ‘The Resident’ & More Returning Fall Dramas Facing Possible Major Shake-Ups
We always expect something to change on a show at the beginning and end of a season, including characters leaving, dying, and changing jobs, and we’re going into the fall with several dramas poised for some major shake-ups.
For example, it’s unclear just how much NCIS fans will see Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) in Season 19. (We do at least know he survived his boat exploding.) Chicago Fire put four members of Firehouse 51 in some serious trouble at the end of Season 9. One of the friend group on A Million Little Things may have gone a bit too far when it didn’t look like justice was going to be served. The Blacklist and The Resident have both lost major cast members.
Scroll down to read on for the dramas in which we think there could be a major shake-up when the fall season begins this September.
A Million Little Things
The ABC drama ended its third season with Gary (James Roday Rodriguez) refusing to stand by while the music teacher, Peter (Andrew Leeds), who assaulted Sophie (Lizzy Greene), walked free, so he took him hostage in his own home. What he does and the fallout of it could have major repercussions — not just legal ones — for Gary and his relationships with his current girlfriend (Floriana Lima’s Darcy) and ex-girlfriend (Allison Miller’s Maggie) as well as the entire friend group. And speaking of everyone, Katherine (Grace Park) and Eddie’s (David Giuntoli) divorce — and subsequently, eventually dating other people — is bound to lead to some major drama.
The Blacklist
How do you do The Blacklist without one of its two leads? That’s the question the NBC drama is facing heading into its ninth season. Megan Boone, who starred as Elizabeth Keen since the series premiere, has left the show, with her final episode seemingly killing off her character. Furthermore, the show’s creator, Jon Bokenkamp, has also exited. Just how different will it be as a result?
Chicago Fire
Firehouse 51 could potentially lose four of its firefighters on one call. The ninth season ended with all of Squad 3 — Lieutenant Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney), Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso), Tony (Anthony Ferraris), and Capp (Randy Flagler) — trapped underwater, out of air. They’ve lost members of the house before due to the nature of the job, but the outcome of this one could potentially take that to a whole new level.
Chicago Med
The NBC drama said goodbye to two of its original stars in the Season 6 finale, though Dr. Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto) and nurse April Sexton (Yaya DaCosta) didn’t get a traditional sendoff. (We can speculate as to how they’ll be written out, but neither left onscreen.) There are new doctors coming in (and Steven Weber, who plays Dr. Dean Archer, has been promoted), but there’s always something strange about losing an original cast member, especially after four or five seasons.
Chicago P.D.
There was quite a bit left up in the air at the end of Season 8. Officer Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) was still in the hospital after getting shot. Detective Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) seemingly talked her boss, Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), into bringing a suspect in rather than pulling a Voight … only for the suspect to reach for the sergeant’s gun and force the detective to shoot. (Did Voight set that up to happen? We’re not sure.) His body may have been buried, but we have a feeling that’s not over. Upton then proposed to her boyfriend and partner Detective Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer), without cluing him in on what just happened. Intelligence has a lot to deal with in Season 9.
NCIS
Not only did the long-running CBS procedural say goodbye to one of its series regulars (Emily Wickersham, who played Ellie Bishop) in the Season 18 finale, but there are more shake-ups coming this fall (and we don’t just mean the new night and time, Mondays at 9/8c). Katrina Law (Special Agent Jessica Knight) has been upped to series regular, Gary Cole is coming on as FBI Special Agent Alden Parker, and we have no idea how much we’re going to see Harmon.
NCIS: Los Angeles
NCIS: LA said goodbye to two of its regular cast — Barrett Foa, playing Eric Beale since the series began, and Renée Felice Smith, who joined as Nell Jones a year later — in the Season 12 finale. After limited appearances last season (due to the pandemic), Linda Hunt is back as OSP’s operations manager Hetty Lange, plus Gerald McRaney, who plays retired Navy Admiral Hollace Kilbride, has been upped to series regular. Having both of them in the office full-time (or anywhere close to it) is bound to change things up.
The Resident
Fans were shocked when it was announced that Emily VanCamp, who has played nurse practitioner Nic Nevin since the beginning of the series, is not returning for the fifth season. And that came after Season 4 ended with her and her husband, Dr. Conrad Hawkins (Matt Czuchry), welcoming their daughter. But life is clearly about to change in a major way for Conrad, with all signs pointing to him becoming a single father, based on the latest promo.
