LL Cool J Joins ‘NCIS Hawaii’ Season 3 as Sam Hanna

The following accommodates spoilers from Monday evening’s NCIS: Hawai’i Season 2 finale.

The NCIS: Hawai’i workforce is getting a serious plus-up.

LL Cool J — contemporary off wrapping his 14-year run as NCIS: Los Angeles‘ Sam Hanna, who surprisingly resurfaced on CBS 24 hours later to make a bacon-saving cameo during NCIS: Hawa’i’i‘s Season 2 finale — is becoming a member of the island-set spinoff for Season 3, as a recurring visitor star.

Midway by the NCIS: Hawai’i finale, Special Agent in Charge Jane Tennant (performed by Vanessa Lachey) was in the midst of escaping a pair of back-from-the-dead Adrian Creel’s henchmen when a sniper shot rang out from a close-by hill, felling the second of her and Whistler’s (Tori Anderson) adversaries.

The shooter, Special Agent Sam Hanna, then rang Jane’s cell to make reference to the truth that, sure, the NCIS: LA sequence finale had deposited Sam (and Callen) 6,800 km away in Morocco (on a mission to avoid wasting Hetty), but additionally to supply Tennant his future providers.

CBS screenshot

But when the NCIS: Hawai’i finale later drew to an in depth, it appeared that Supervisory Agent John Swift (Henry Ian Cusick) would be the one to avail the Pearl Harbor workplace of Sam’s huge expertise. For as Jane frightened what the fallout could be for unexpectedly letting superspy Maggie Shaw slip away, Swift was seen on the cellphone speaking to somebody about how “it couldn’t hurt to plus-up the team” in Pearl Harbor, including: “I have an idea who….”

In a TVLine unique, NCIS: Hawai’i entrance girl Lachey says she is “so excited” to have LL Cool J (aka Todd Smith) come on board for Season 3. “This is an amazing opportunity to continue evolving the NCIS franchise,” she notes. “And what better way to do that than have Sam Hanna join the team.”

While Lachey is mum on how precisely Sam will match into the combo (“That’s the fun part, figuring out how we all will solve cases together”), she is assured that “we will have fun on set!” With a nod to the 3-way NCIS franchise crossover that aired in January, she says, “From the moment we started filming the triple crossover, to hearing the news of Todd joining our team, it’s been laughs, love and excitement all around.”

In truth, Lachey surmises that the success of stated crossover performed “a big part” in whetting appetites for LL Cool J’s transfer to Hawai’i. “We all loved working on the triple crossover, so this transition seemed natural,” she says.

Want scoop on any of the NCIS exhibits? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your query could also be answered by way of Matt’s Inside Line.