CBS is bringing back LL Cool J’s Sam Hanna in a new NCIS spinoff this fall, with the network setting NCIS: New York in the Tuesday night slot between NCIS at 8 p.m. and NCIS: Origins at 10 p.m. The series will follow Hanna back to his hometown of New York City, where he will work out of the field office with a roguish agent played by Scott Caan.
The new show gives CBS another hour built around the franchise that has anchored its schedule for years, and it arrives as the network prepares to use NCIS: Sydney to replace NCIS: Origins in midseason. For viewers, the message is simple: the Tuesday lineup is being built around the brand that continues to deliver, with NCIS: New York positioned to extend that run into the fall.
The pilot comes from R. Scott Gemmill, who is reteaming with LL Cool J after serving as showrunner of NCIS: Los Angeles for seven seasons and writing on all 14 seasons of the series. Byron Balasco will run NCIS: New York, which continues the story of Hanna after his NCIS: Los Angeles run, the series that aired from 2009 to 2023 and marked the start of his NCIS journey.
There is a wrinkle in the rollout: LL Cool J is not waiting for the fall launch to reappear. He will show up on two upcoming NCIS episodes on April 21 and April 28, a reminder that CBS is already steering audiences back toward Hanna before the new series even starts. That timing keeps the franchise in front of viewers now, not just when the new show debuts later this year.
The question for CBS is no longer whether the franchise can sustain another offshoot. It can. The real test is whether NCIS: New York can turn a familiar face, a new partner and one of the world’s busiest cities into something that feels like a fresh chapter rather than another lap around a proven formula.
