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Key Points Vera Strickland returns to help the NCIS team solve a decades-old unresolved case. The crossover episode flips 'NCIS: Origins' and 'NCIS' timeslots for story continuity. Roma Maffia says Vera is “passionate about being a part of it” to right a wrong. A familiar face returns to NCIS tonight when Vera Strickland (Roma Maffia), one of the last remaining members of the NIS team that worked under Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid) at Camp Pendleton, joins the current NCIS team in Washington, D.C. to help with a case that has its roots back in the ‘90s in this special crossover episode that has NCIS: Origins and NCIS flipping timeslots to give the story continuity. The case began with a murder in the small California town of Serenity, where both the locals and the law refused to cooperate with the NIS team. The case was eventually resolved, but not to the satisfaction of either Gibbs (Austin Stowell), Franks, or Strickland in the first hour. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 In the second hour, the current NCIS team makes a visit to retired special agent Vera Strickland to help them make sense of why an inmate would break out of prison just three weeks before he was to be paroled. And Vera is happy to come back to help right a wrong. “This case was unsolvable in her mind and her partner’s mind as long as it has been,” Maffia exclusively tells Parade. “She gets pulled in, and then she pushes her way in. She’s all the more passionate about being a part of it, I think, besides being bored out of her mind. She very much wants to right a wrong for the team she was on and for the man who was wronged.” Related: NCIS: Origins: Mark Harmon Reveals Why He’s Returning as Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Exclusive) Maffia originated the role on the mothership, but she admits to having watched Diany Rodriguez play the younger version of the character, who Maffia sees as a straight shooter, who’s instinctive, smart and has the ability to suss people out. “I love the character she’s doing and I do believe that it’s Vera,” Maffia said. “It’s tempting for me to look at myself and go, ‘Is she doing me?’ I don’t know how that gets done, but I love what she’s doing, and I can see how there’s a follow-through to the present day.” This is the first time that Maffia has revisited the role of Vera since Mark Harmon exited NCIS. And she was a little cautious returning to the set, where only Sean Murray (McGee) remains. The rest of the cast is all new. “At first, going there, I thought, ‘Oh, my God. Everyone’s new. I don’t know who anybody is.’ It was a large role, so I felt a little nervous, but there’s no need because the script was written so Vera-like. That was fantastic. It was like you could just put on a slipper, and there I was. The cast, the crew, the director, everyone’s welcoming. It’s a fun set.” Tonight only, NCIS: Origins will air at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, followed by NCIS at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Both stream the next day on Paramount+.
