Catherine Bell To Reprise Her “Mac” Character On ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’; Could ‘JAG’ Reboot Be In the Cards?
It’s a JAG reunion! JAG leading lady Catherine Bell is joining her co-star David James Elliott for a recurring stint on CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles. The plan at the moment is for the duo to do a joint arc on NCIS: LA only. However, in the current environment when reboots are more popular than ever, their appearance together reprising their popular characters is raising speculation that, in success, it could potentially lead to some sort of a JAG revival/reboot. NCIS: LA and JAG are part of the same universe as mothership NCIS originated as a spinoff from JAG.
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David James Elliott To Reprise 'JAG' Character On 'NCIS: Los Angeles'
Bell will reprise her JAG character, Lieutenant Colonel Sarah “Mac” MacKenzie. She’ll appear in the season finale episode airing on Sunday, May 19.
In the episode, as the NCIS team tries to uncover a complicated network of ISIS sympathizers who look to be planning an attack on US aircraft carriers and possible worse, Hetty (Linda Hunt) has to call in a favor to an old friend, Lieutenant Colonel Sarah “Mac” MacKenzie (Bell), to help get access to an elusive Russian diplomat.
Last week, CBS confirmed that Elliott would reprise his JAG character, Navy Captain Harmon Rabb Jr. in a multi-episode arc on NCIS: Los Angeles, beginning with the May 12 episode.
The arc involving the former JAG leading duo is said to span a total of four episodes, the last two this season and first two next season. (CBS is yet to renew its NCIS franchise but all three series are expected to return.) It is the brainchild of NCIS: Los Angeles executive producer/showrunner R. Scott Gemmill who was a writer-producer on the first four seasons of JAG.
“Catherine’s “Mac” was a strong, smart woman who held her own, and then some, in a male dominated world,” said Gemmill. “Her character paved the way for other strong female leads. Not only is it great to be working together again as friends, but to be able to write for Catherine and have her same character interact with our NCIS: Los Angeles characters now, that’s wonderfully surreal. It feels like everything has come full circle.”
Following her starring tole on JAG, which aired for 10 seasons, 9 of them on CBS, Bell headlined another successful franchise, Hallmark Channel’s The Good Witch. She is continuing on The Good Witch, which consists of TV movies and a series. Bell is repped by Gersh and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
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