LL Cool J returns in NCIS season 22, episode 18 (and here’s what to expect)

NCIS season 22 will get a visit from LL Cool J’s Sam Hanna, but why does he need the team’s help?

“The Other Shoe” – Sam Hanna must go undercover as a fighter to catch the leader of a gang dealing drugs on the streets, on the CBS Original series NCIS: LOS ANGELES, Sunday, March 19 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+. Pictured (L-R): LL COOL J (Special Agent Sam Hanna). Photo: Erik Voake/CBS ©2022 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Sam Hanna is coming back to the NCIS universe, and that episode is almost here. We’ll see LL Cool J come back in NCIS season 22, episode 18, which airs on Monday, April 21.

Now we finally know why Sam is coming back to the episode. It doesn’t look like we’ll get an update about Hetty, though, and we all know that’s what we need! However, it will hopefully give us some sort of an update on how other teams are doing since Hanna was connected to both the NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: Hawaii teams.

Why is Sam Hanna working with the flagship NCIS team?

It’s not Hanna coming to the flagship team for help. Instead, NCIS season 22, episode 18 will work the opposite way, with the team needing Hanna when there’s a suspect who will only speak with him.

When a trio of combat vets were murdered in a DC motel room, the team is quick to get to the bottom of it. It makes sense that Hanna would be the one that a vet would turn to considering his own experience in the military.

Could we get a Hetty update in NCIS season 22?

Of course, there is one thing NCIS: Los Angeles fans want when it comes to anyone from that series coming into the show. We need an update on the Hetty situation. The last we left Hetty, she was definitely alive in Syria, but Nell needed to put a team together to get her out. There has been hope that we’d get a movie at some point to wrap up that storyline, but it hasn’t happened yet.

One of the main reasons for the storyline not being wrapped up in NCIS: Los Angeles season 14 was due to Linda Hunt’s schedule. She couldn’t make it work to be able to film, and while we would love to see Hetty extracted from a war zone, we need to see it with Hetty there saying something smart to the team getting her out.

It doesn’t sound like Hanna will have an update about Hetty, though. The flagship series wasn’t directly connected to that storyline and nobody really has a connection to her to ask, but we can always hope! Just to know the writers haven’t forgotten about her would be great, as they already missed the chance to give us an update.

NCIS airs on Mondays at 9/8c on CBS. Catch up the following day on Paramount+.