NCIS: Hawaii Season 4 May Only Happen With Two Big Changes
NCIS may be the most popular franchise in the world, but one arm of the dynasty will only survive if some pretty big changes are made. Deadline reports that "NCIS: Hawai'i" is on the bubble for the first time. While the outlet reports the drama is likely to be renewed, some changes may be necessary to make Season 4 a reality.
The outlet reports that budget cuts might be required. Every belt in Hollywood is tightening due to advertising concerns, and "NCIS: Hawai'i" is no exception. Since the show shoots on location, cuts might come in many ways, from reducing actor salaries to curtailing per-episode costs.
Another issue: CBS has an NCIS glut, with four franchise entries already greenlit for the 2024-25 season. The shows are "NCIS: Origins," which details the backstory of Leroy Jethro Gibbs (formerly Mark Harmon), "NCIS," and "NCIS: Sydney," which was originally slated to run just a single season on CBS but pulled a surprise renewal when it posted strong ratings as filler programming during the SAG-AFTRA strike. That's a lot of NCIS shows for the eye network to handle — and that doesn't include the Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) spin-off series set to hit Paramount+.
And the mixed possibilities regarding a potential "NCIS: Hawai'i" renewal don't stop there.
Limited timeslots also mean that there's less room for Hawai'i's return
Another problem keeping "NCIS: Hawai'i" from being immediately renewed is that CBS' fall schedule is fairly full and has little space available. The surprise renewal of "S.W.A.T." for a full 22 episodes also means that there's even less room on the schedule than before, especially for other action-based procedurals. More room might be freed up once "Blue Bloods" finishes its abridged final season in the fall — but that show could return if the ongoing #savebluebloods campaign and series star Donnie Wahlberg have anything to say about it. Ergo, finding the right time and place for "NCIS: Hawai'i" might be difficult.
Notably, "NCIS: Hawai'i" is doing fairly well in the ratings. It has brought on LL Cool J as his "NCIS: LA" character Sam Hanna to drive audience interest further, which has worked out; the show tends to pull in up to 5 million or more viewers weekly. And those are just the numbers the series does through its weekly airings on CBS. Fans will have to wait to see if this benefits "NCIS: Hawai'i."