Matt’s Inside Line: Get Scoop on NCIS, Criminal Minds, Ghosts, All American, The Rookie, Lopez vs. Lopez and More!

Matt Webb Mitovich
·8 min read
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Who’s playing doctor on NCIS? Why is Criminal Minds: Evolution‘s Prentiss struggling? Read on for answers to those questions and many more! (You can and should email brand-new Qs to InsideLine@tvline.com.)

What does NCIS have in store for Parker this year? –Mink
Akin to how Parker once went undercover as a lawyer, soon he “may possibly have to perform a surgery,” co-showrunner David North told me at the NCIS franchise’s 1,000th episode party. Added co-showrunner Steven D. Binder, “Gary Cole is an incredibly funny actor, and he hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to expose his comedic chops [on NCIS], so were hoping to do that.” North then noted that longtime producer Mark Horowitz opined that “Gibbs is the father figure of the team, but Parker is the crazy uncle, so we want to let Gary spread his wings.”

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Can we expect any special visits to NCIS this season? –JVH
Visitors don’t get much more special than this: It turns out the E.T. I spotted on-set last week is for NCIS, specifically the April 1 episode.

Now that All American is going into its sixth season, is Spencer going to be getting any closer to being drafted into the NFL? — Emily
Your question was brought directly to All American boss Nkechi Okoro Carroll, who says the show’s renewed focus on football has Season 6 feeling like “the more mature version” of Season 1 — and that will include “the approach of the NFL” for Spencer and Jordan. “Stepping into his dad’s shadow, filling his footsteps, being the man Billy Baker always knew Jordan was going to be has Jordan reconsidering whether or not pursuing the NFL is something he should be doing on a more serious level,” Carroll teases. “The return to the pursuit of that dream, now that all this life has happened to them, is a major focus of the season” (premiering April 1 on The CW).

Any scoop on what to expect for Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2, specifically Emily Prentiss’ storyline? Paget Brewster teased on Twitter that Prentiss has “some serious [s–t]” coming. –Lynn
“She does!” showrunner Erica Messer confirmed during my recent visit to the Paramount+ drama’s set. The new season picks up a mere two weeks after the events of the Season 1 finale, FBI Deputy Director Doug Bailey’s death included, “so Prentiss is struggling with that quite a bit,” Messer shared.

Will we ever meet another member of Harry’s species in Resident Alien, that’s not his son? –Ivan
“I would love that,” series creator Chris Sheridan said when I delivered your Q, “but we haven’t done it yet, mostly because from a production standpoint it’s very expensive. Any time you add an alien into the fray, it costs money because you have to do all the builds and stuff. But that’s definitely a story I want to tell in the future, for sure.”

Last season on Abbott Elementary, we got to see more of Janine and Melissa’s home lives and families. Will Season 3 get into Ava’s home/personal life? –Val
In short, there are no plans to do so at this time. As co-showrunner Justin Halpern explained to me, “When we were first planning out the big building blocks of 22 episodes, there was a lot of room to do [that]. But now we have 14, and you don’t have the ability to have that one episode that’s like, ‘Let’s drill down on this one thing in this character’s life!’ But we do get into some stuff with [Ava] that I find really interesting.”

I need more about The Rookie, any additional scoop on Season 6? –Emily 
David Dastmalchian, who was kinda-sorta Nathan Fillion’s castmate in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, (and whose many credits also include The Dark Knight and CBS’ MacGyver reboot), will guest-star in “a two-parter down the road,” Rookie showrunner Alexi Hawley shared with me, adding: “I was so excited to get him.”

Will the new shrink on The Rookie be a love interest for Aaron? –Dana
Possi-maybe! As showrunner Alexi Hawley put it, Blair (played by The Originals‘ Danielle Campbell) is “a rookie psychiatrist in the same way that Aaron’s just on the other side of being a rookie police officer. And we’ll be exploring what that could happen if you’re an attractive officer and she’s an attractive shrink, and having fun with that idea.”

First of all, it’s crazy that The Good Doctor is ending. I feel there is so much more story to tell. Anyways, I was wondering if we are possibly getting any old characters comeback for a last hoorah. –Terri
At the sunsetting series’ TCA winter press tour panel, the EPs were asked if they could reveal any such returning cast. “No,” said David Shore, flatly. Added Liz Friedman, “You’re going to have to watch and see.”

I LOVE THE WALKING DEAD. Do you have anything to share about this new season? –Sam
Whereas the first episode of The Ones Who Live ended with a reunion that was as unexpected-in-the-moment as it was awaited, Episode 2 ends with a bit of jump scare, and Episode 3 ends with a shocking act that will make you — as well as [Spoiler] — audibly gasp. (By the way, the only thing more surprising than how Episode 1 ended is what happens, there in the field, mere seconds after the characters reunite.)

With Freevee dissolving, what does that mean for Alex Rider Season 3? –Chelsea
Have no fear, Season 3 will still see the light of day — presumably now on Prime Video.

Now that Lopez vs. Lopez has a return date, any scoop to share? –Alex
When I spoke with the Lopez, as in George, at a TCA mixer, he revealed that not only will Cheech Marin be reprising his Season 1 role as Carlos the healer, but Tommy Chong will appear in the same episode, as a guy from the neighborhood. “Chong is in his 80s, but he was like, ‘I’ll do it,’ because I’ve known the guy for 30-plus years,” Lopez explained. “Everybody’s in play, man.”

I apologize if this is a dumb question, but is there a reason why Utkarsh Ambudkar was missing from the Ghosts main credits last week? –Scott
Scott, you definitely made me look, and at first glance, I also failed to see Ambudkar’s name. But no, it’s tucked there on the upper right, in white against a blown-out bit of window glare. (See screenshot above.)

Will we see how Ghosts‘ Hettie and Sas died? Also, any chance we’ll find out more ghost powers? –Karen
Ahead of the season premiere, co-showrunner Joe Port revealed to TVLine, “We’re going to learn a couple of ghost powers” — Sas’ included, clearly — and another ‘how someone died.’” And one of those answers will be coming soon! “There’s a lot of chaos happening, as usual, [in] the Halloween episode (airing March 7), and we find out how a ghost dies, which is fun,” previews Román Zaragoza (aka Sas).

Are Hetty and Trevor really done hooking up on Ghosts? -Lindsey
It seems so, especially after she tried to seduce Thor last week. “We had a lot of couples happening at the end of last season, and I think Trevor and Hetty, they proved to be a bit of a combustible match,” Port says, “which is why I think they’re attracted to each other, but why they also kind of grate on each other. I think that’s going to come to a bit of a head, and we may see them take a step back.”

With both The Irrational and Found being set in Washington, D.C., and on back-to-back nights, do you think we could potentially see a crossover between NBC’s two new hit shows? –Jared
We like the way you think, Jared. And so does Arika Lisanne Mittman, showrunner for The Irrational. “Oh gosh — that sounds fun,” Mittman responded, “but there’s nothing that I know of that has been planned. But I suppose anything is possible.”

Any news on more Breakout Kings stars appearing on Reacher? –Greg
With Malcolm Goodwin, Serinda Swan and Domenick Lombardozzi appearing across the first two seasons of the Prime Video hit, Reacher boss Nick Santora is only about halfway through re-employing his former cast — and at least one of the stragglers has noticed! As Santora told TVLine, “Jimmi [Simpson] texted me, like, ‘What’s going on? All the Breakout Kings are in Reacher!’ I’d be lucky to work with Jimmi and Laz [Alonso] and Brooke Nevin and anyone from Breakout Kings again. They’re the best.” But no, no official word yet on that front.

Do you know if there are any plans to air Season 2 of The Lazarus Project in the U.S.? –Steve
Yep, Season 2 will air on TNT just as Season 1 did — premiere date TBD.

Do YOU want scoop/have questions about a favorite show? Email InsideLine@tvline.com! Questions plopped in Comments will not be read and may very well count against your final score. (With additional reporting by Vlada Gelman, Kim Roots and Rebecca Iannucci)

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