Actress Maria Bello has played NCIS Special Agent Jacqueline “Jack” Sloane on the NCIS cast for four seasons now. She joined the cast in Season 15 when some shifts were necessary after a few key people exited the show.
Since then, Sloane has become very close with Gibbs (played by Mark Harmon) and is now an invaluable member of the team. This season, though, it seems like she has had a rather difficult time connecting with some of the other people as they have gone through traumatic events. That was particularly noticeable during the last episode, called 1mm, where Bishop and Torres got trapped in jail cells.
A really important episode is coming up for Sloane, but it might not air until March.
Is Sloane leaving NCIS cast?
Getting right to the point, yes, Sloane is leaving the NCIS cast during Season 18. It was actually set to take place at the end of Season 17, but delays in producing new episodes, due to the coronavirus pandemic, forced some episodes to be scrapped.
Actress Maria Bello agreed to come back for an additional eight episodes in Season 18, with the expectation that she would exit the show well before the season finale. We assume her exit will simply take place during Season 18, Episode 8, but that has not been officially revealed just yet.
NCIS Season 18 spoilers
What we do know as fact, is that the production team isn’t going to be rushing to replace the character of Jack Sloane. It could be a while before someone new joins the NCIS cast to replace Bello, allowing the show some space to deal with losing Sloane. If the writers decide to kill off the character, it will also give the rest of the team time to recover from it.
For fans who have enjoyed watching Bello on the show, make sure to tune in for the next two new episodes, as she is certainly going to have an impact.
A look at NCIS Season 18, Episode 7
The next new episode of the show will air on Tuesday, February 9. It’s called The First Day and it will be an important story for Dr. Jimmy Palmer (played by Brian Dietzen). A personal loss for the character also seems like it will foreshadow some scenes between Palmer and Sloane, but we will all have to tune in to CBS on Tuesday night to find out for sure.
NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.