Explainer

NCIS: Los Angeles cast: What happened to Eric Beale and Nell Jones?

Nell And Eric Leaving NCIS LA
Renee Felice Smith and Barrett Foa left the NCIS: Los Angeles cast. Pic credit: CBS

The NCIS: Los Angeles cast is going to look a lot different during Season 13 after characters Eric Beale and Nell Jones left the show.

It was during the Season 12 finale that the NCIS: LA cast went through some huge changes.

Nell Jones, who was played by Renée Felice Smith since Season 2 of the show, seemed like the logical choice to replace Hetty Lange as the operations manager at the NCIS: LA branch. And a lot of Season 12 seemed to be spent working toward that shift on the show.

But then Eric Beale (played by Barrett Foa) showed up on the season finale and gave Nell an offer that she simply could not refuse.

Why did Eric Beale and Nell Jones leave NCIS: Los Angeles cast?

Eric Beale had popped up every now and then during Season 12 to help out his former team, but he had become a very rich man thanks to the development of tech that he had been working on while undercover for NCIS.

During NCIS: Los Angeles Season 12, Episode 18 (called A Tale of Two Igors), Eric showed up and told Nell that he had been given the approval to create an international headquarters for his Kaleidoscope technology in Tokyo. And he got to bring Nell with him if she decided to come.

Right before the final credits of NCIS: LA Season 12 rolled, Eric and Nell were shown driving off into the sunset together, ready to take on big new challenges in their lives while doing something other than chasing the bad guys in Los Angeles.

Renee Felice Smith and Barrett Foa gone from NCIS: LA cast for good?

“Well, I think it’s complicated. I mean, I think that I’ve been ready for my next chapter for a while now, in whatever form it will take. But it’s surely to be centered around storytelling,” Smith said when asked about her reaction to the Season 12 finale being her final episode.

And asked if she would like to return for NCIS: LA Episode 300 sometime down the road, she said, “of course.”

The door is definitely open for Renee Felice Smith and Barrett Foa to reprise their characters of Nell Jones and Eric Beale, but, for now, NCIS: Los Angeles fans should get used to seeing the team working without their two best tech guys.

And that new journey begins with the NCIS: LA Season 13 premiere, which airs for the first time on Sunday, October 10.

NCIS: Los Angeles airs Sundays at 9/8c on CBS.

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Lou Sullivan
Lou Sullivan
2 years ago

Why do people leave hit shows to never be heard from again ? I have seen this happen again and again !