The fifteenth season of the American policeprocedural dramaNCIS premiered on September 26, 2017, in the same time slot as in the previous seasons, Tuesdays at 8 PM. The season premiere was watched by 17.42 million viewers, picking up two months after Gibbs and McGee were last seen fighting a group of rebels in Paraguay and focused on the aftermath of those events. The season concluded on May 22, 2018 and contained 24 episodes. NCIS revolves around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Maria Bello joins the cast as Dr. Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane, NCIS Senior Resident Agent and operational psychologist. After 15 years of playing Abby Sciuto, Pauley Perrette left the show in episode 22 - "Two Steps Back." CBS renewed NCIS for both seasons fourteen and fifteen on Monday, February 29, 2016.
The series was renewed for fourteenth and fifteenth seasons by CBS on Monday, February 29, 2016. It was announced that Jennifer Esposito, who portrayed NCIS agent Alexandra Quinn, had departed and would be replaced by Maria Bello as Agent Jackie Sloane — a new series regular, beginning with episode 15:5. Bello inked a three-year deal to remain with the show through until the end of its seventeenth season. Production began in July 2017 with the rest of cast members returning. Showrunners Frank Cardea and George Schenck wanted to focus Season 15 around a "good mystery and more stand-alone episodes than two or three-parters." However, they noted that they wouldn't shy away from multi-part episodes if the story was deemed worth it. As to Quinn's departure, Special Agent Torres stated in 15:1 that Quinn is now on leave taking care of her mother; this coincides with a running story-arc her character had maintained for some time. The specific turnover point between Quinn & Sloane's characters occurs at the end of 15:4, when Bello's character premieres. In another central casting announcement, TV Line reported on October 4, 2017, that founding NCIS actress Pauley Perrette would be leaving the role of "Abby Sciuto" after the conclusion of season fifteen. Perrette's final episode was episode 22, which aired on May 8, 2018. Also, in this episode, Duane Henry was written off the show. NCIS was renewed for a sixteenth season on April 13, 2018, following a deal with Mark Harmon to return for an additional two years.
Episodes
Reception
Season 15 was praised for its sharp cases and bringing new life into characters and series, with Matt Carter of CarterMatt.com citing "the arrival of Maria Bello and the creative direction of the new showrunners; this has been the best season overall since season 10" as chief reasons for this revival. Sara Netzley of Entertainment Weekly said, in reference to the positive changes, "now here's the show we’ve enjoyed for years", noting that it was "dark and twisty", giving it an 'A' rating. It received both a fresh critic and audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as scoring an 8.9 average rating on TV.com, and an 8.1 rating on IMDb,—both significant upticks from the previous season. Season 15 of NCIS was CBS's most watched and highest rated drama on their network for another year. Whilst being the most watched drama nationally, beating NBC's megahit This Is Us and ABC's The Good Doctor, it also finished as the sixth most watched television program overall for 2017–2018 season.
Home media
A DVD and Blu-ray of the fifteenth season of NCIS was announced for August 21, 2018.
