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When putting together the NCIS: Hawai’i Season 3 finale, the show’s writers had no idea it would end up being the series finale. As a result, the CBS drama ended on a major cliffhanger that left frustrated fans wondering what might have been. 

‘NCIS: Hawai’i’ showrunners didn’t intend to end the show on a cliffhanger 

Vanessa Lachey holding a bottle of wine in 'NCIS: Hawai'i'
Vanessa Lachey as Jane Tennant in ‘NCIS: Hawai’i’ | Karen Neal/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In April 2024, CBS announced it was ending NCIS spinoff NCIS: Hawai’i after three seasons. The news came as a shock, including to co-showrunners Jan Nash, Christopher Silber, and Matt Bosack.  

“We were obviously surprised,” the trio said in a recent joint interview with TVLine.

“If we’d known it was coming, we probably wouldn’t have ended the series on a cliffhanger,” they added. “The fact that the studio and the network didn’t stop us makes it seem like they might not have seen it coming either.” 

In the NCIS: Hawai’i series finale, “Divided We Conquer,” which aired in May, Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) and her team — including Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) — thwarted an attack with a bioweapon known as Compound X. After celebrating their success, Tennant headed home, where she was shocked to find Maggie Shaw (Julia White) waiting for her. Maggie was last seen in the NCIS: Hawai’i Season 2 finale when she was on the run. 

“You’re probably going to need a drink for what’s coming next,” Maggie said before the credits began to roll.

What might have happened in ‘NCIS: Hawai’i’ Season 4 

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What was Maggie about to tell Tennant? We’ll never know for sure, but NCIS: Hawai’i showrunners say it would have had something to do with Tennant’s past.

“While not fully fleshed out, we had a general idea of where the Maggie story was going,” they said. “It would have eventually intersected with Jane Tennant’s mother, but it was also going to move back into the dark world of Tennant’s spy past, using those stories to increase our understanding of who Jane was but also to learn more about her team in the process.”

In addition to learning more about Tennant’s history, season 4 might have also involved wedding bells for Lucy (Yasmine Al-Bustami) and Kate (Tori Anderson).  

“We hadn’t fully landed on what was going to happen in season 4,” the showrunners said. “But there would have been some movement. Whether it would have been a wedding, meeting families, or some other thing, we didn’t know.”

Series star Lachey has said she’s sorry that those and other storylines won’t be explored in future seasons of NCIS: Hawai’i but that she’s glad they were able to tell the stories they did. 

“I’m wishing for my crew and my cast that we all remember the Beauty of what we had… we will spread this Aloha in every direction we go,” she wrote in a May 1 Instagram post. “I wish we had more time, I’m sorry we don’t. I wish we had a proper good-bye, I’m sorry we didn’t. I know we ALL are connected deeper than any TV show.”

NCIS: Hawai’i is streaming on Paramount+. 

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