Why CBS Postponed NCIS: Sydney Season 2 Premiere by a Week

CBS has pushed back the season 2 premiere of NCIS: Sydney.

The network confirmed on Thursday, January 16, that NCIS: Sydney‘s return has been postponed by a week. NCIS: Sydney was scheduled to return on Friday, January 31, but will now air on Friday, February, 7.

The decision took place because CBS has a not-yet-announced special taking over the January 31 slot. Meanwhile, Fire Country and S.W.A.T. are still set to air original episodes on January 31, as originally planned.

The synopsis for the postponed episode teased a rogue assassin who is on the run, and the NCIS/AFP team will do whatever it takes to crack the case. The season 1 finale hinted that Mackey and JD’s team will be investigating what is potentially threatening the stability of the region.

NCIS as a franchise started with JAG, which debuted on NBC in 1995. The show followed military lawyers in the Department of the Navy’s Office of the Judge Advocate General who could prosecute and defend criminal cases under the code of military justice. After NBC canceled the show after one season, CBS rescued the show.

Fan-favorite Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) was introduced alongside his team in the eighth season finale of JAG in 2003. The backdoor pilot subsequently led to the network ordering a full first season of NCIS, which then grew into Hawaii Five-0, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Hawaiʻi and NCIS: Sydney.

More recently, NCIS: Origins premiered in October 2024 with Austin Stowell playing the younger version of Harmon’s character. The prequel picked up less than a year after Gibbs’ wife and daughter were killed. During season 1, Gibbs started a new job as a special agent at the NIS Camp Pendleton office while still dealing with the aftermath of losing his family.

“It’s a daunting task to recreate Gibbs and to go back and try to tell this story while being respectful to the fans and to the story line of the original show,” Stowell, 40, exclusively told Us Weekly in November 2024. “We want to do our best job as actors, as artists, as writers and storytellers. While there could be a lot of pressure, Mark Harmon makes us feel so comfortable and he makes us feel justified in our decisions.”

The actor revealed that it didn’t take long for Harmon to share his opinion about Stowell’s performance.

“He gave it to me right away in the room,” Stowell quipped. “He was vocal about — maybe not what to do — but certainly [he was] guiding me more in terms of posture and mindset, things that I’ve learned to inhabit all the more over time.”

Harmon, however, has “never given” Stowell any notes on his acting. “He leads by example. He’s a guy who I’ve learned a lot more about being a human being than being Gibbs,” Stowell continued. “He’s been so welcoming — not just to me and not just to the rest of the cast, but the whole crew. He’s really such a wonderful leader for us because he makes everybody feel so comfortable.”

The NCIS franchise is currently streaming on Paramount+.