Daniela Ruah Clarified Her NCIS Future After Kensi Blye's Return In Episode 1000
Contains spoilers for "NCIS" Season 21, Episode 7 — "A Thousand Yards"
The "NCIS" world is wide-ranging, and crossovers have become common between the properties. The mothership series pulled out all the stops for its 1,000th episode, and aside from a montage featuring most branches of the "NCIS" universe, there were cameo appearances from "NCIS: Hawai'i" lead Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) and Daniela Ruah's Kensi Blye from "NCIS: Los Angeles." Both women are called together to help with a matter of intelligence that might threaten Air Force One and the president of the United States.
The quick cameos have audiences wondering if there might be more of Kensi in Ruah's future. The actor — who's been on the sets of both "NCIS" and "NCIS: Hawai'i" as a director during 2024 — is keeping the door to Kensi's future wide open. "I think I'll cross any of those bridges when they come," she admitted to TV Insider. "I don't have an answer for you right now, to be honest with you. I think it all depends. It just depends on a lot of stuff." Ruah also declared that it would be important for her to know about the storyline and see if it's appropriate for Kensi before saying yes.
While Ruah appears to be all about planning out any further appearances by Kensi within the "NCIS" world, her cameo proved to be quickly decided upon — and completed while she was on another set related to the franchise.
Daniela Ruah's NCIS cameo came about while she was shooting another NCIS Universe show
Daniela Ruah revealed to TV Insider that she was approached to appear on the 1,000th episode of "NCIS" while working as a director on the set of "NCIS: Hawai'i." She said, "We actually shot that while I was in Hawai'i, beginning our shoot for my episode. I got the call, and they were like, 'Would you mind shooting this? Can we just quickly shoot this while you're there?' And of course, I would never say no to being in the 1,000th episode of NCIS." The shoot preceded the search for another important Kensi-related item — her car. Ruah helped the director match the vehicles at their disposal to Kensi's original vehicle from "NCIS: Los Angeles."
"We just sort of shot it as simply as we could because [it was] a Zoom call, obviously, but I was just happy to be a part of it. To be able to be in the episode was fantastic. I love those guys," the actor concluded. The car also kept things simple for both Ruah and the show's writers — it didn't leave fans much room to wonder what happened to the baby Kensi was pregnant with when we last saw her on "NCIS: L.A." — an announcement that made fans cry. Ruah joked that the baby is with Kensi's husband's (Eric Christian Olsen) mother.
Well, since Ruah has explained that the best part of playing Kensi is her flaws and she's always wished Kensi had a better relationship with her own mom, perhaps the next time we see her in the "NCIS" world, parenthood will have given her a few more quirks.