The “NCIS: Los Angeles” team said goodbye to just lost two key members in the season finale that aired Sunday, May 23.
As fans of the show know, tech guru Eric Beale (Barrett Foa) and intelligence analyst Nell Jones (Renée Felice Smith) have been a couple for some time. When he revealed that he’s received funding to launch his new tech firm, but will require relocating to Tokyo, she decides to accompany him, with the two literally driving off into the sunset at the episode’s end.
In an interview with TVLine, “NCIS: LA” showrunner R. Scott Gemmill confirmed that both Foa and Smith were exiting the show.
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“Both Renée and Barrett have been on the show a long time, and they’re both very ambitious individuals who have projects that they want to do on their own — and we’ve been giving them time off to do so,” Gemmill said.
“It seemed like a natural time to let them go off and do some other things, and give [their characters] what is a happy, hopefully, ending,” he added.
However, Gemmill has also left the door open for the characters to return on an occasional basis.
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“There’s a little loophole in there, when Nell says she’s going to be alone in Tokyo with Eric, and she gives it ‘six weeks’ before she’s back,” Gemmill added. “So, we’ll see what happens.”
Making Nell’s decision even more difficult was that Hetty (Linda Hunt) revealed that she wanted Nell to take over for her as operations manager.
“This seemed like a good time [to write her out], because you probably expected Nell to take Hetty’s job that she’s being groomed for,” said Gemmill. “But it’s a good thing, in some ways, to have that little bit of unpredictability to the show. That keeps it fresh and honest. But also, like I said, we keep in loopholes so that we can bring people back.”
Foa also spoke to TVLine about his exit, and how his character has evolved over the course of nearly 300 episodes.
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“I really love how far he’s come,” Foa explained. “I started out as this tech guy that was spouting coordinates, and as I realized that there was so much brawny energy on the show, I felt like there was a place for someone who was brainy and sort of beta, and that could make a great foil to our leading character team. So I started leaning into that a bit more, and I think the writers really liked that.”
The 13th season of “NCIS: Los Angeles” will return to Global in the fall.
