There’s a new plan for how to proceed with NCIS, but it’s clear from even a brief look that the flagship is now taking direction from one of its most popular spinoffs. A number of major plot points unfold over the course of NCIS season 22, from McGee making friends with former villain Fletcher Voss to McGee also realizing that LaRoche wasn’t quite the man he seemed to be. In other words, McGee seems to have trouble assessing villains. Nonetheless, NCIS season 23 may begin to feel like a new animal entirely.

With new main villain Carla Marino still in the wind after the devastating end to the NCIS season 22 finale, the series can easily take a number of directions at this point. However, the showrunners have determined that NCIS will adjust course slightly in its newest season. Although major plot points from season 22 will naturally still need to be resolved, the show will also begin focusing on its individual characters in a new way. The stated plan is a good one, but it’s difficult to discern how long it can truly last when looking at it closely.

NCIS Season 23 Will Further Lean Into Character-Centric Storytelling

The Series Will Cover More Individualized Narratives

Image by Milica Djordjevic

Although NCIS has always had episodes that feature some characters more than others, the plan is for season 23 to enhance this aspect of the show. According to NCIS showrunner Steven Binder, the plan is to “make this a character-forward show in a way we haven’t seen before.” In short, NCIS season 23 will focus more on individual characters rather than their broader investigations. Based on what we’ve seen of the series thus far, there’s no reason this shouldn’t prove to be a credible idea.

Season 22 alone offers several character-specific stories. Torres has to learn to make nice with a frenemy who is illegally moonlighting as a security officer. Palmer has to focus on his relationship with his daughter for an episode. McGee prepares an entire briefing on why the team should help him sell enough coffee to one-up another PTA dad, which unexpectedly leads to Kasie calling up every office from the spinoffs for help. The show is already so character-focused that it seems as if this plan for change could almost only originate from one point of inspiration.

Origins Is The First Full Character-Centric Spinoff In The NCIS Franchise

The Show Primarily Focuses On Gibbs And Franks

Image by Milica Djordjevic

What NCIS: Origins season 2 will look like after the first season’s gut-wrenching finale is still unpredictable, but the majority of the show so far is clearly about Gibbs more than anybody else. Much of the first season’s front half focuses on Gibbs looking for his family’s killer, before a twist reveal puts that storyline to an unexpected rest. After that, however, the series continues to focus on individual characters. For instance, as soon as Gibbs’ main story was largely wrapped up (outside the finale’s events), the series primarily shifts focus to Mike Franks.

But Gibbs and Franks aren’t alone. Rando arguably has one of the best single-character episodes in the series. His story does technically relate back to Gibbs, but it also allows him to stand on his own while taking point in what may be one of the best fight scenes in the series to date. The most unexpected single-character episode goes to the generally underused Vera Strickland, whose criminal profiling expertise plays a vital role in wrapping up at least two major investigations of the season. This seems to be the type of character focus NCIS season 23 aims to embrace.

This type of character focus would differ between shows, however, almost by necessity. It’s easy enough to readjust the story briefly to make Mike Franks NCIS: Origins’ true main character for a few episodes while he hunts down Tish’s assailant, but the flagship series already has a long history of switching main characters to match the investigation. Parker might be in charge, but he’s lately only been the main character when fighting Kansas City or talking to ghosts. Nonetheless, the fact that NCIS wants to approach this differently says a lot about Origins’ reception.

NCIS Season 23 Mining Inspiration From Origins Emphasizes Its Success

Origins Clearly Did Well Enough For Showrunners To Take Notice

There’s already a lot to look forward to going into NCIS season 23, especially with Carla Marino’s role in NCIS having taken a major turn with the murder of Parker’s father. But it says quite a bit that the franchise feels the need to borrow ideas from a spinoff rather than resting on its own laurels. To be clear, this doesn’t suggest that there’s anything objectively wrong with the flagship series. However, it seems that they respect NCIS: Origins enough to want to replicate its success.

It’s difficult to imagine higher praise for a series than to see another show drawing from its work, but that seems particularly odd in this case. The flagship has generally been the most successful series in the entire NCIS franchise, which isn’t something that all shows with multiple spinoffs can easily say. On top of that, Carla has the potential to become the most dangerous NCIS villain in years. If they’re drawing from Origins now, then they’re clearly happy with the spinoff’s performance. At the same time, drawing too much from it could easily backfire.

Why NCIS Season 23 Can’t Just Fully Rely On Origins’ Trick

The Flagship Needs To Maintain Its Own Unique Tone

If there was a current problem with frequently underused and mistreated NCIS characters, then it might make sense for the series to require a more character-focused approach moving forward. However, NCIS can’t fully replicate the character focus in Origins without losing the flagship’s unique charm. The two series adopt very different tones. While NCIS: Origins often focuses on one character for several episodes at a time, NCIS typically relegates its more character-centric stories to single episodes.

NCIS season 22 came so close to reuniting Knight and Palmer only to back out at the last second, ultimately disrespecting their relationship.

This obviously isn’t the case 100% of the time, as evidenced by McGee’s season 22 arc with LaRoche. For the most part, however, Parker seeing a ghost in one episode doesn’t mean that fans won’t wait several episodes for a resolution. In the meantime, NCIS derives a great deal of its charm from the interactions of the entire team. Perhaps Origins or the upcoming NCIS: Tony & Ziva spinoff can get away with focusing on a smaller selection of characters, but the flagship’s team focus currently sets it apart from those spinoffs. It would be a shame to lose that.