LL Cool J's Sam Hanna Return In NCIS: Hawaii Season 3 Explained

You can't keep a good NCIS member down, even if their home series gets canceled. When audiences last saw Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) in the show's extended universe, he was working with his partner, G. Callen (Chris O'Donnell), and friend Nell Jones (Renée Felice Smith) to rescue his boss, Hetty Lange (Linda Hunt), during the series finale of "NCIS: Los Angeles." The trio ends up in Morocco, where Sam also assists "NCIS: Hawai'i" mainstays Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) and Kate Whistler (Tori Anderson) during the Season 2 finale of that show.

Season 3, Episode 1, of "NCIS: Hawai'i" will see Sam outside of his element — not only is he going to be the agent tasked with properly debriefing Jane so she can get back to work at NCIS, but he's also going to find himself looped into one of the team's cases. TV Line reports that when a data breach occurs within the U.S. Marshals' database, Sam is forced to join Jane and the rest of the team as they make a trip to Las Vegas to catch the culprit.

"NCIS" fans are likely over the moon to spend a little more time with Sam, and the cast and crew running things behind the scenes at "NCIS: Hawai'i" seem just as overjoyed to welcome him to the set.

The "NCIS" network of series seems to operate as one extended family, and the way "NCIS: Hawai'i" has happily welcomed LL Cool J back to its set seems to be a clear example of such behavior. A joint statement from executive producers Matt Bosack, Jan Nash, and Christopher Silber praises the actor and expresses their excitement about the episode ahead. "All of us at 'NCIS: Hawai'i' have been huge fans of LL Cool J for years and couldn't be more thrilled or honored to be adding his spectacular talent to our ohana for season three," it says, per LA Times.

Vanessa Lachey, meanwhile, promises in her own statement that Sam's appearance will have a dash of humor thrown into the mix of high-octane action and suspense. After making reference to the previous season's three-show crossover — which saw "NCIS Hawai'i" characters meet with ones from "NCIS" and "NCIS: Los Angeles" — she states about the upcoming Hanna guest shot, "It's going to be a fun ride!"

"NCIS" fans will be able to climb on that ride when "NCIS: Hawai'i" returns on February 12.