Rocky Carroll has shined on the directorial entrance twice thus far on NCIS Season 22, the newest being “Baker’s Man,” which aired final week on the 2025 TV schedule. Nonetheless, in the case of his character, NCIS Director Leon Vance, arguably the character’s largest episodes thus far this season has been “International Our bodies,” the place we reunited along with his sorta-girlfriend Lena Paulsen, performed by Marem Hassler. By the tip of that episode, Vance and Lena had entered right into a extra official romantic relationship, which left me hopeful that we’ll be seeing extra of her. When that may occur is tough to say, however Carroll did share his ideas with CinemaBlend about how he envisions this might occur.
Throughout my latest dialog with Rocky Carroll, which additionally included him discussing the place Vance stands with new NCIS Deputy Director Gabriel LaRoche, I requested the actor about if his character’s relationship with Lena can be explored extra this season, and he began off by saying:
That is an excellent query as a result of we did that basically good episode that Marco Schnabel wrote the place we did depart the door open together with her. I believe if they’ll discover a strategy to carry her in… what I like about these characters is that if a personality recurs, they do not simply recur to be, ‘Hey, look, my dinner date’s right here.’ They’re normally tied to some facet of the story. And since Lena additionally labored in an company and she or he was an operative, I believe they’re looking for a manner that they’ll carry her again, however nonetheless have a degree of intrigue.
“International Our bodies” marked Lena’s second look in NCIS, having been launched within the Season 20’s “Guardian” as an agent for the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), i.e. the Federal Intelligence Service (stream the episode with a Paramount+ subscription in case you want a refresher). She and Vance had been in an off-the-cuff, no-strings relationship each time their paths crossed, and for many of her Season 22 reappearance, they continued to get alongside splendidly. By the tip of the episode, Vance realized he wished one thing extra out of her relationship with Lena, and she or he agreed, which she demonstrated by giving him a key to her new condominium in New York.
So now Leon Vance and Lena Paulsen are formally an merchandise, although it’s extra of a long-distance factor as a consequence of their respective careers. However as Rocky Carroll has been on NCIS for over a decade and a half, and he’s sure that for Lena to begin recurring on the sequence, she’d have to be concerned in a bigger story moderately than be round merely for love’s sake. The actor continued:
As a result of what I beloved concerning the storyline that we did together with her was she did not inform Vance precisely why she was again in his life. He needed to discover out this operative was reporting to her on this case. So there’s nonetheless that degree of everyone sort of sizing one another up and no person actually being utterly clear. So I believe if they’ll discover a strategy to carry her again and nonetheless hold that ingredient, I believe it’s going to work. Hopefully she’ll be again. I do not know. We’re getting sort of in the direction of the tail finish of our season now. I like that they introduced her again and I hope they create her again once more quickly.
NCIS Season 22 solely simply resumed airing, however like Rocky Carroll stated, the solid and crew are already within the midst of planning out the season’s closing episodes. So except Lena Paulsen is being written into a kind of, it’s unlikely we’ll see her once more in Season 22. That simply provides additional incentive for CBS to resume NCIS for its twenty third season, and Carroll is wanting ahead to exploring extra of Vance’s relationship with Lena, supplied she’ll additionally be capable to proceed placing her expertise as an agent to good use.
Happily for these of you who take pleasure in watching romance on NCIS, it was revealed in “Baker’s Man” that Nick Torres is relationship Robin Knight, and with their relationship benefitting from the occasions of “For Higher or Worse,” hopefully we’ll see extra of this loopy children collectively. Season 22 may also proceed to discover Alden Parker’s Lily thriller and flesh out the “flight plan” for the Kansas Metropolis mob.