'NCIS: Los Angeles' Boss Reveals When Linda Hunt's Hetty Will Return

Fans of Linda Hunt‘s Hetty on NCIS: Los Angeles will be waiting even longer to see her again on the show.

The 77-year-old actress, who has played the Operations Manager for the Office of Special Projects (OSP) since the launch of the show in 2009, only appeared in a handful of episodes last season, and according to showrunner R. Scott Gemmill, will only be in a few episodes this season as well.

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As far as fans know, Hetty stepped away from her position due to a dangerous mission in Syria, and it looks like that’s where she’ll be for the time being.

“Her story continues,” Gemmill shared with Parade.com. “She was in at the beginning of this season and then we had her disappear. The plan is to follow that up next year with some reveal.”

He added that the plan is to pit her “a little bit against Callen in terms of what he went through as a child, so that’s something we’re very eager to explore and have fun with. We saw a little bit of that confrontation earlier this year, but before they could really have it out, she disappeared again. That’ll be focus for us in season 14 when we come back.”

As far as her disappearance in season 12, Gemmill explained it was all to keep Linda safe from the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re doing everything we can to keep everyone safe, and Linda (now age 77) is a little extra special in terms of how we have to look out for her,” he explained to TV Line at the time. “Linda was away a lot more this season because of COVID and us trying to keep her safe…. And then finally, Linda had both her vaccines, she was feeling great, and she came back [for the finale]. And she was so happy to be back. She had been gone for so long and hadn’t really interacted with anyone, so she was just so thrilled to be back on set.”

NCIS: Los Angeles airs Sundays on CBS.

If you missed it, the flagship NCIS will be welcoming a very special guest star next week!