NCIS Season 24 Will Officially Introduce Torres' Mike Franks Counterpart

Oct 02, 2026 - 04:09

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NCIS Season 24 Will Officially Introduce Torres' Mike Franks Counterpart

Published Oct 1, 2026, 7:36 PM EDT

Adam has been writing in the entertainment news space for over a decade. Beginning his career of covering film and TV at CinemaBlend, he has also appeared on The Flash Podcast and done several radio spots.

NCIS is introducing the man who filled the same role for Nick Torres that Mike Franks did for Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Long ago, at the end of NCIS season 3, viewers of the long-running CBS procedural learned that Franks, played by Muse Watson, showed Gibbs the ropes when he joined the law enforcement agency in the early 1990s, when it was known as NIS. Watson went on to appear in nearly two dozen NCIS episodes, and Kyle Schmid currently plays Franks in the prequel NCIS: Origins. Now fans of the flagship series will get to meet the man who taught Wilmer Valderrama’s Torres what he knows in a similar manner.

TVLine has revealed that Mike O’Malley has been cast as Walt Keller, Torres’ mentor, who will appear in NCIS season 24’s third episode, titled “Sleeping Dogs.” Showrunner Steven D. Binder described him to the outlet as one of Torres’ “old handlers” who’s “not the most by-the-book guy,” and “potentially he's going to get Torres involved in some undercover work down the road.”

O’Malley’s notable credits include Yes, Dear, My Name is Earl, Justified, Glee, Survivor’s Remorse, The Good Place, Heels, and Snowpiercer. More recently, he’s appeared as Captain Robinson in multiple episodes of Abbott Elementary, as well as played Danny Marks in the final three episodes of Fire Country season 4, which also airs on CBS. Per the episode synopsis for “Sleeping Dogs,” this NCIS episode will see one of Torres’ retired undercover identities used to commit a crime, requiring him to get back in touch with Keller.

2026 marks 10 years since Valderrama joined NCIS, as Torres was added to the main lineup in the season 14 premiere after Michael Weatherly’s Tony DiNozzo exited in the season 13 finale. In season 23, Torres reunited with Emily Wickersham’s Ellie Bishop, his former teammate and love interest, for the first time since she departed at the end of NCIS season 18. In the season 23 finale, Torres was last shown confronting Timothy McGee’s son over his lies, leading to a gunshot going off between the two armed men.

In addition to following up on that plot thread, NCIS season 24 will also see Weatherly reprising DiNozzo on a recurring basis. His return to the flagship series follows a year after the conclusion of NCIS: Tony & Ziva, which was canceled after just one season. Season 24 will be the first time since season 5 that Rocky Carroll is not a member of the core cast, as his character, Leon Vance, was killed off in the TV show’s 500th episode.

NCIS season 24 premieres Tuesday, October 6 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. The new spinoff NCIS: New York and NCIS: Origins season 3 follow at 9 p.m. ET and 10 p.m. ET, respectively, on Tuesday nights for CBS’s fall 2026 schedule. NCIS: Sydney season 4 will premire sometime in 2027. The entirety of the NCIS franchise can be streamed on Paramount+.

Release Date September 23, 2003

Showrunner Donald P. Bellisario

Directors Dennis Smith, Terrence O'Hara, Tony Wharmby, James Whitmore Jr., Thomas J. Wright, Michael Zinberg, Arvin Brown, Rocky Carroll, Diana Valentine, Leslie Libman, Tawnia McKiernan, Colin Bucksey, William Webb, Bethany Rooney, Alrick Riley, Jeff Woolnough, Alan J. Levi, Lionel Coleman, Martha Mitchell, Peter Ellis, Michael Weatherly, Edward Ornelas, Stephen Cragg, Tom Wright

Writers George Schenck, Frank Cardea, Jesse Stern, John C. Kelley, Jennifer Corbett, Christopher Silber, Reed Steiner, Nicole Mirante-Matthews, Jack Bernstein, Scott J. Jarrett, Matthew R. Jarrett, Kimberly-Rose Wolter, Don McGill, Gil Grant, Frank Military, Nell Scovell, Steven Kriozere, Brian Dietzen, Kate Torgovnick May, Jeff Vlaming, Sydney Mitchel, Katie White, Richard C. Arthur, Laurence Walsh