NCIS LA season 14 theory: Hetty Will Return To Team As The Boss Has Given A Promising Clue

The upcoming season premiere of NCIS: Los Angeles may feature the return of a long-standing fan favorite character who has been absent in the previous two episodes.

Linda Hunt, who plays NCIS: Los Angeles Operations Manager Hetty Lange, has been absent from the show for an extended period of time due to complications while filming during the cor0nav1rus pand3mic. Thankfully, based on the latest teases from the show’s producer, she appears to be returning to the CBS drama very soon.

R. Scott Gemmill, executive producer of NCIS: Los Angeles, has finally provided an update on Hetty’s whereabouts as the show enters its 14th season.

The stalwart OM left her post for a covert mission in season 12 and handed over the reins to her temporary replacement, Nell Jones (played by Renée Felice Smith).

Unfortunately, Nell also left the series to join Eric Beale (Barrett Foa) in Tokyo for a new business venture, leaving the LA team in limbo.

Hetty only appeared briefly at the start of the 13th season, when G Callen (Chris O’Donnell) suspects her of keeping more secrets about his mysterious past.

Gemmill has confirmed that the former OM is currently in Syria, and the season premiere will provide more information for Callen to track her down.

“It starts out very bad for her, but [the information] eventually provides a little bit of hope,” he explained.

Hetty has been spending more time away from the LA office on secret missions around the world since the ninth season of the popular NCIS spin-off.

Unfortunately, it appears that her most recent case has gone awry, and she may require the assistance of Callen and the other agents to retrieve her from the Middle East.

While it’s unclear whether Hetty will appear in the season opener, the most recent updates suggest she’ll be reuniting with Callen and the team at some point in season 14.

Once her safety is assured, she may even appear much more frequently than in previous episodes, which limited Linda’s role due to C0v1d restrictions.

When Callen learns that his boss is in Syria, he will go to any length to find her and learn what she has been keeping from him about his childhood.

His solo mission, however, will be cut short when Admiral Kilbride (Gerald McRaney) summons the entire team to investigate a t3rr0rist att4ck on a Navy drone manufacturer.

Later in the season, the agents are pitted against a gang of arsonists, and the body-stitching serial k1ll3rs from the previous season make a grisly reappearance.

Meanwhile, the team is forced to intervene when Sam Hanna’s (LL Cool J) son Aiden (Tye White) is falsely accused of pilot error and faces losing his military career.

With all of this on his plate and more to come, Callen’s expedition to Syria to recover Hetty may take some time.

Her absence will be felt especially keenly in the run-up to Callen’s upcoming wedding to Anna Kolcheck (Bar Paly).

“Her absence affects Callen as he works toward having his wedding, realizing he doesn’t really want to go through with that without her,” Gemmill told TV Insider.

Could the ceremony be postponed so that Callen can marry the love of his life in front of his surrogate mother?

Hopefully, this will all be resolved by the end of the season, but NCIS fans should brace themselves for a long and difficult road ahead to get Hetty back where she belongs.