NCIS: New Orleans

NCIS: New Orleans is an American action crime drama and police procedural television series that premiered on CBS on September 23, 2014, following the twelfth season of NCIS. The pilot was written by Gary Glasberg. Produced by CBS Studios, Wings Productions and, for the first four seasons, When Pigs Fly Incorporated, the series stars Scott Bakula and CCH Pounder. The series, set and filmed in New Orleans, is the third series of the NCIS franchise. In May 2020, the show was renewed for the seventh season, which premiered on November 8, 2020. In February 2021, CBS announced that the seventh season would be the series' final one. The series concluded on May 23, 2021, making it the first show in the NCIS franchise to end.

NCIS: New Orleans follows a fictional team of Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Special Agents stationed out of New Orleans, Louisiana and led by Supervisory Special Agent Dwayne Cassius Pride (Scott Bakula). The team focuses on crimes that involve personnel in the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and their territory ranges from the Mississippi River to the Texas Panhandle. Working under the supervision of Pride at the start of the series are Christopher LaSalle (Lucas Black), a former Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Deputy recruited by Pride following Hurricane Katrina, and Meredith Brody (Zoe McLellan), a transfer from the NCIS Great Lakes field office, who has worked as a Special Agent Afloat and is keen to leave her past behind as she moves to New Orleans. They are assisted by Dr. Loretta Wade (CCH Pounder), the coroner for Jefferson Parish, Sebastian Lund (Rob Kerkovich), a forensics specialist who assists Wade, and Patton Plame (Daryl "Chill" Mitchell), a paraplegic hacker turned computer specialist for NCIS. In season 2, Sonja Percy (Shalita Grant), an ATF Special Agent who assisted the team on the Baitfish case the prior season, joins them on a permanent basis.

At the end of season 2, a case involving a domestic terrorist attack and a corrupt Department of Homeland Security Special Agent leads to backlash that culminates in Brody's resignation from NCIS at the start of season 3. Following this, FBI Special Agent Tammy Gregorio (Vanessa Ferlito) is sent to investigate Pride and his team; she is later recruited to NCIS after being fired by the FBI after a vital part of their case against a drug cartel goes wrong on her watch. Also, Sebastian, after taking an interest in field work, completes FLETC training and joins the team as a Forensics Agent during the season.

Near the end of season 4, Percy leaves the team after accepting an offer to join the FBI. Shortly after, Pride is shot and nearly killed by the vengeful wife of an assassin linked to the Clearwater case, whom he had killed in season 3. He recovers at the start of season 5 and later accepts a promotion to Regional Special-Agent-in-Charge for a change of pace. Arriving to replace him is Supervisory Special Agent Hannah Khoury (Necar Zadegan), a former intelligence agent looking to settle down and reconnect with her family.

In season 6, Khoury is demoted from team leader after breaking protocol in a joint-operation with the FBI, allowing Pride to return and retake his old position, though Khoury stays on as second-in-command. Also during the season, LaSalle's search into his brother Cade's disappearance, and later, murder, results in his own death at the hands of the same killer. After being avenged and mourned, he is soon replaced by the notoriously anti-social Special Agent Quentin Carter (Charles Michael Davis) a fixer with a reputation for working alone who gradually warms to the team over time.

In season 7, with the COVID-19 pandemic having thrown the city of New Orleans into uncertainty, JAG Commander Rita Devereaux (Chelsea Field), Pride's long-time girlfriend and a seasoned attorney, joins the D.A.'s office to help with restoring social justice, while Pride joins a task-force set up by the mayor to restore the city. The two eventually marry in the series finale.

NCIS: Los Angeles originally had a proposed spin-off series commissioned by CBS during the 2012-13 TV season titled NCIS: Red. Written and produced by Shane Brennan, the series would follow "a mobile team of agents who live and work together as they go across the country to solve crimes". On February 6, 2013, John Corbett was cast as retired special agent Roy, the series male lead. Earlier, Miguel Ferrer would join the cast as a series regular, and reprising his NCIS: Los Angeles role, Edwin Hodge had been cast as Kai, an intelligence analyst, Scott Grimes was cast as Dave, Gillian Alexy was cast as Claire, and Kim Raver was cast in the pilot, playing the lead role of Paris. The pilot episode, titled "Red" and "Red-2", aired on March 19 and 26, 2013, during the fourth season of NCIS: Los Angeles. On May 15, 2013, CBS announced that the pilot would not be taken to series. On May 21, 2013, CBS President Nina Tassler stated that "sometimes [spinoffs] work and sometimes they don't. Protecting [the franchise] was really important."

In September 2013, it was reported that a second NCIS spin-off series set in New Orleans would be introduced with a two-part backdoor pilot during the eleventh season of NCIS. The episode title "Crescent City (Part I)" and "Crescent City (Part II)", written by Gary Glasberg, were filmed in New Orleans in February 2014, and aired on March 25, 2014, to April 1, 2014. The series, titled NCIS: New Orleans, was picked up to series on May 9, 2014, NCIS: New Orleans premiered on September 23, 2014, on CBS. On October 27, 2014, CBS picked up NCIS: New Orleans for a full season of 23 episodes.