NCIS’ Eleanor “Ellie” Bishop is in it for the long haul on NCIS: Origins after teaming up with her former boss Leroy Jethro Gibbs for an unsanctioned mission.
Warning: Spoilers below from season 3, episode 4 of NCIS: Origins.
“I was in a bunch of episodes,” Emily Wickersham, who plays Bishop, exclusively told Us, confirming that her cameo on the Tuesday, October 27, episode of the prequel series wasn’t a one-off.
The actress, 42, noted that she doesn’t “exactly know” when Bishop’s last episode on Origins will air, but fans will see her role as Gibbs’ (Mark Harmon) right-hand partner in modern times play out to its fullest.
“Bishop with this one is going to see it through,” Wickersham said, teasing her character is just getting started on her hunt for Gibbs’ assassin.
Earlier this season, viewers learned that someone wants Gibbs dead. Despite hunting him to his remote cabin in Alaska, Gibbs survived being shot and is now on a mission to find his attempted killer — and the one other person they are planning to murder.
During Tuesday’s episode, Bishop popped in on Gibbs at his home in Washington, D.C., offering her services after new NCIS deputy director Anthony “Tony” DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) gave her a call.
Bishop revealed the identity of the tracker who found Gibbs as Rowan Briggs, a CIA contractor, noting that she has set up an alert system to help them find him when he surfaces again.
“They want to be ready for anything and everything,” Wickersham told Us of the team’s game plan moving forward. “They’re just on the move and doing their thing as they have done in the past, which is so fun.”
The actress, who exited NCIS during season 18 in 2021, noted that throughout this season of Origins, Bishop and Gibbs will focus on “trying to figure everything out” while attempting to “make sure Gibbs is safe” and discover who the next target is.
“There’s a lot of fun action stuff, and then, you know, some interesting moments,” Wickersham teased.
While the next target is presumed to be someone from Gibbs’ time working at Camp Pendleton in California in the ‘90s, which is when Origins takes place, their identity is unknown. (The younger version of Gibbs is played by Austin Stowell.)
Gibbs, however, revealed during Tuesday’s episode that it can’t be his ‘90s love interest and NCIS coworker Lala Dominguez (Mariel Molino) because “she died a long time ago” in a plane crash.
Wickersham teased that Lala’s presumed death could play a big part in her and Gibbs’ search.
“I think he believes that Lala was killed in the plane crash, and I think it’s all unfolding for Bishop,” she said. “Because I don’t think that Bishop and Gibbs have ever had a conversation really about Lala’s story and the Gibbs and Lala story. So it’s all unfolding in real time.”
Despite Gibbs being confident that Lala isn’t the target, Wickersham told Us nothing is set in stone.
“They’re trying to figure out, like, who the target could be, and I think the Lala thing is thrown in as like, ‘Wait, what? Is Lala [dead]?’” she continued. “I think it’s kind of chaotic and confusing to everyone in the current moment that unfolds as we go.”
Wickersham, for her part, is on board with the fan theory that Gibbs and Lala are endgame and will live happily ever after in Alaska once this case is solved.
“I love it. That sounds romantic and wonderful, and I hope it happens,” she said with a laugh.
NCIS: Origins airs on CBS Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.
