In the brand-new “NCIS” spinoff “NCIS: Sydney,” American NCIS operatives collaborate with Australian Federal Police personnel. It debuts on November 14.
On CBS, a brand-new NCIS spinoff will debut. The first NCIS series installment with a global setting, NCIS: Sydney, features a team of Australian Federal Police and American NCIS agents as they look into maritime crimes in one of the world’s most contentious ocean regions. Will the new program make up for NCIS, whose season 21 debut date was postponed due to the Hollywood strikes? Here is all the information you need to know about NCIS: Sydney while we wait and see.
.What is ‘NCIS: Sydney’ about?
In NCIS: Sydney, AFP officers—Australia’s version of the FBI—cooperate closely with NCIS agents as part of a global task force tasked with preventing maritime crimes. Working together does not guarantee that people get along, as demonstrated in the trailer (via YouTube), in which NCIS Special Agent Michelle Mackey (Olivia Swann) and AFP sergeant Jim “JD” Dempsey (Todd Lasance) argue about who has authority over a case.
“This is my harbor,” he says.
“And this is my investigation,” she replies.
Despite their differences, the Americans and Aussies must learn to trust each other, overcoming and harnessing their differences to solve each case. They’ll have to navigate jurisdictional tussles and culture clashes, with Mackey eventually coming to respect JD’s nose for the truth. Meanwhile, he grows to appreciate her maverick style.
CBS has also released a synopsis of the NCIS: Sydney series premiere, and it sounds like a classic NCIS story, albeit one with some unique twists, given the setting, In “Gone Fission” an American seaman is found dead on a U.S. nuclear submarine during an AUKUS ceremony on Sydney Harbour. (AUKUS is the trilateral security partnership between the U.S., the U.K., and Australia.) The sailor’s death is investigated in a joint effort between NCIS agents and the AFP.
‘NCIS: Sydney’ premiere date and how to stream
NCIS: Sydney premieres Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Episodes will also stream live and on-demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers. Paramount+ Essential subscribers can stream new episodes on demand the day after the episode airs. NCIS: Sydney will premiere on Paramount+ Australia on Friday, Nov. 10. Additional Paramount+ international markets will follow at a later date.
‘NCIS: Sydney’ cast
British actor Olivia Swann takes on the lead role of Agent Mackey in NCIS: Sydney. She’s best known for playing Astra Logue in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Todd Lasance plays second-in-command AFP officer Dempsey. Lasance has appeared in The Vampire Diaries, ANZAC Girls, Spartacus: War of the Damned, and the Australian soap opera Home and Away.
Other NCIS: Sydney cast members include Tuuli Narkle as sassy AFP Constable Evie Cooper, Sean Sagar as endlessly curious Special Agent DeShawn Jackson, William McInnes as curmudgeonly forensic pathologist Doctor Roy Penrose, and Mavournee Hazel as the brilliant young forensic scientist Bluebird “Blue” Gleeson.
‘NCIS: Sydney’ will feel uniquely Australian
NCIS: Sydney unquestionably belongs to the NCIS world. However, according to series creator Morgan O’Neill in an interview with TVLine, the show will have its own distinct flair. The program will have “a familiar architecture to it, but three-quarters of [the characters] are Australians and that makes for a very, very different experience,” he said. Many aspects of the world that Americans take for granted will be somewhat exposed and questioned here.
NCIS: Sydney also strived to capture “that authentic cultural sensibility of Australia — the colors, the flavor,” O’Neill said.
“You’ll certainly feel like you’ve been Sydney,” he added.
Viewers can expect some ‘NCIS’ Easter eggs
While NCIS is venturing into a whole new part of the world with its latest spinoff, viewers can expect some nods to other shows in the franchise.
“There are a couple of little Easter eggs there,” O’Neill said. “I won’t spoil them, but they’re definitely there. One of the things that I think audiences love about this show is the fact that it feels like a universe, not individual shows.”