Might wedding bells for Callen and Anna herald the (latest) long-awaited return of NCIS: Los Angeles‘ Hetty?
Original cast member Linda Hunt’s enigmatic character last appeared on-camera in May 2021, at the close of Season 12, when Hetty fittingly ended her previous vanishing act to wish Nell and Eric well with their post-NCIS life.
Coming off of that, there was a plan to have Hunt back for Season 13, and ideally to a greater degree, but you know what they say — “Man plans, and God and COVID surges laugh.” As a result, Hunt appeared only in last October’s premiere, where Hetty informed Kilbride that she needed to return to Syria (where she had spent much of Season 12 and apparently left things a mess).
Callen, as a result, was left to rummage around by himself for the newest,latest truth about his childhood — namely, whether he was but one of many youths “recruited” and mentored by Ms. Lange. But on a much happier note, Season 13 ended with Callen proposing to Anna Kolchek in front of a beach sunset, and his longtime girlfriend gleefully accepting.
As part of TVLine’s in-depth NCIS: Los Angeles Fall Preview, showrunner R. Scott Gemmill said that shortly after Season 14 opens (on Sunday, Oct. 9), Callen (played by Chris O’Donnell) will be thinking about his and Anna’s (Bar Paly) upcoming wedding when “he realizes he has unfinished business, and wouldn’t want to get married without Hetty present.” Callen’s wish to have his adoptive mother on hand for his big day will — eventually, hopefully — precipitate a return for Hetty and the 77-year-old Hunt.
“The plan,” Gemmill says, “is to go and rescue her at some point, find out what she’s gotten herself into.
“We’re just trying to figure out schedule-wise when we can pull that off,” he added. “That was the plan last year, too, but it didn’t come to fruition. We had a bit of a [COVID variant] surge, but things seem to be settling down a bit. Hopefully, nothing new comes along and we can make the happen this year.”
NCIS: Los Angeles Season 14 premieres Sunday, Oct. 9 at 10/9c, where it will now lead out of The Equalizer and the freshman cop drama East New York.
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