‘NCIS’ Confirms Return of Fan Favorite Character in Season 20
NCIS will start its 20th season when it returns on September 19th, and an original cast member is set to return. Joe Spano will reprise his role as FBI agent Tobias Fornell. Long-time fans will recall that Spano was with the series on the very first episode from 2003, “Yankee White.”
The most recent NCIS episode featuring Fornell is season 18, episode 9 “Winter Chill,” which aired on March 9, 2021. In the character’s arc, Fornell resigns from the FBI. He begins working as a private investigator, and he contributes time to Gibbs and his team on several cases.
The website Matt & Jess reported that Spano will appear in the September 19 premiere of “A Family Matter.” Albeit the character is returning under somewhat uncertain circumstances. Since Tobia Fornell has been around the NCIS franchise since 2003, he has a lot of ties with other characters. NCIS fans are likely hoping that Agent Fornell might give an update on Mark Harmon’s Gibbs character. The last we heard, he was off in Alaska. Regardless, Fornell may not have many scenes. The episode promises to be jam-packed, as it’s a crossover with sister show NCIS: Hawaii.
“A Family Matter” picks up from where the cliffhanger season 19 finale left off. Special Agent Alden Parker (Gary Cole) is still on the run. His ex-wife Vivian (Terri Polo) is with him, and the team is investigating who from his past might have a personal vendetta against him. The team discovers their main suspect, The Raven, after enlisting the aid of NCIS: Hawaii’s Special Agent Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) and computer specialist Ernie Malick (Jason Antoon). The duo is in town to meet with director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) for a worldwide military exercise.
NCIS star Joe Spano had an unlikely early role in an iconic film
Some fans may not know that NCIS‘s Joe Spano was in a huge film from the 1970s. George Lucas’s American Graffiti was his second full-length feature and it came out in 1973, a few years before the release of Star Wars. The film is set in 1962 and follows the story of two high school graduates spending their last night before college exploring their town. Many unknown or upcoming actors were cast for this movie, some of who went on to have huge careers.
Joe Spano portrays Vic, who shows up at Mel’s Diner. He starts to pester Terry (Charles Martin Smith) as well as Debbie (Candy Clark). Evidently, Debbie and Vic have a past. They went on one blind date, but then Vic neglected to phone her for three whole weeks. Now he arrives expecting her to want to spend time with him again.
Spano, who plays the egotistical Vic in American Graffiti is practically unrecognizable to current NCIS fans. In the film, Debbie sends him on his way with an iconic insult, saying “If brains were dynamite you couldn’t blow your nose.” Filmed in the ’70s Spano looks a lot younger than he does now and he’s dressed like he’s from the ’60s which is drastically different from modern FBI Special Agent Fornell.
