{"id":2066,"date":"2025-03-11T17:43:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T17:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=2066"},"modified":"2025-03-11T17:43:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T17:43:15","slug":"what-happened-to-hetty-lange-in-ncis-los-angeles-linda-hunts-abrupt-departure-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=2066","title":{"rendered":"What Happened To Hetty Lange In NCIS: Los Angeles? Linda Hunt\u2019s Abrupt Departure Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCIS: Los Angeles<\/strong><\/em><\/a> was the first show to expand the NCIS franchise, premiering in September 2009 and running for 14 wonderful seasons. One of the reasons the series was so beloved was Linda Hunt\u2019s character, Hetty Lange, the Operations Manager for the OSP. She became a fan-favorite character, constantly putting Callen and others in their place while being involved in some intriguing storylines and delivering humorous one-liners, with many looking forward to the cryptic pieces of advice she would share. It was clear that Hetty had a much larger backstory, adding mystery and intrigue to her character.<\/p>\n

Hunt remained a series regular for the first 12 seasons, but her role was abruptly shortened for the final two when she was demoted to special guest star before\u00a0NCIS: Los Angeles<\/em>\u00a0was canceled before season 15<\/a>. Many were left disappointed and annoyed, looking for answers about\u00a0why such an important character was left ignored<\/strong>. Despite teases that\u00a0Hetty\u2019s Syria storyline\u00a0NCIS: Los Angeles<\/em><\/a>\u00a0would be revisited, the writers didn\u2019t bring full closure before the end of the series.<\/p>\n

Hetty\u2019s Role In NCIS: LA Reduced In Later Seasons Explained<\/h2>\n

Linda Hunt\u2019s Reduced Appearances Started In Season 10<\/h3>\n
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\"Linda<\/picture><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Hunt wasn\u2019t originally looking for a consistent TV role, according to an interview with\u00a0The Daily Beast<\/em><\/a>, but she threw herself into the role of Hetty. However, the first time she stepped away from the show was when she had to take a break during\u00a0NCIS: Los Angeles\u00a0<\/em>season 10 due to a car accident she was involved in. While she didn\u2019t sustain any major injuries, it took more time to recover than she initially thought it would. She returned for season 11,\u00a0quickly becoming the formidable character everyone knew her as once more<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\"Linda<\/picture><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Related<\/span><\/p>\n

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Linda Hunt is an actor best known for her role as Hetty in NCIS: Los Angeles, which undoubtedly contributed to her impressive net worth.<\/p>\n

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The next exit came during\u00a0NCIS: Los Angeles<\/em>\u00a0season 12, and shortly after this, she was demoted.\u00a0Hetty appeared in just a handful of episodes<\/strong>\u00a0during the season, which was not only delayed but was also challenging to film due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While there were plans to bring her back into the story in full from\u00a0NCIS: Los Angeles<\/em>\u00a0season 13, Hunt was demoted to special guest star. Thus, she was only in the first few episodes of season 13 and then appeared through voice messages in the final season.<\/p>\n

Linda Hunt\u2019s Personal Situation Contributed To NCIS: LA Decreasing Hetty\u2019s Prominence<\/h2>\n

COVID-19 Contributed To Linda Hunt\u2019s Reduced Availability<\/h3>\n
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\"Hetty<\/picture><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Due to Hunt\u2019s age and health, the\u00a0NCIS: Los Angeles<\/em>\u00a0showrunners had to find a way to film her scenes during that challenging season 12. Everybody involved in the series wanted to keep her safe, and\u00a0that led to filming in Hunt\u2019s driveway<\/strong>, setting up many scenes where she gave advice and direction through video calls to the team to limit too many people being on set with her. Once Hunt had received her COVID-19 vaccinations, however, she decided that she could return to the set. She returned to film the season 12 finale, something important to her as she had missed spending time with everyone on set.<\/p>\n

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Had Hunt been available, the mission to save Hetty would have happened in the series finale to offer closure to all those who needed it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

While there were plans to bring Hetty back in season 13 and also in the 14th and final season, those plans changed due to Hunt\u2019s availability and precautions for her health. There were still concerns about the pandemic during season 13, and according to\u00a0Soaps.com<\/em><\/a>, showrunner R. Scott Gemmill explained that\u00a0Hunt\u2019s lack of availability in season 14 led to her not being involved in the series finale<\/strong>, although he did not go into detail about the reason behind her lack of availability. Had Hunt been available for the\u00a0two-part\u00a0NCIS: Los Angeles\u00a0<\/em>series finale<\/a>, the mission to save Hetty would have happened in the series finale to offer closure to all those who needed it.<\/p>\n

Can Hunt Still Return As Hetty In The NCIS Franchise?<\/h2>\n

The NCIS Franchise Is Still Going Strong<\/h3>\n

Had Hunt been available for the\u00a0NCIS: Los Angeles<\/em>\u00a0season 14 finale,\u00a0Gemmill had story plans for the team set out on a rescue mission<\/strong>. Throughout the final two seasons, Hetty was in Syria, and at one point, it looked like she had been in a coffee shop when there was an explosion. Fortunately, Hetty faked her death and was able to get a message to the L.A.-based team during the three-way crossover event to both help the team and clarify that she was still alive. This led to Nell forming a team in the series finale intent on getting the Operations Manager back.<\/p>\n

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With the\u00a0NCIS\u00a0<\/em>franchise still ongoing in the present day through the flagship series and\u00a0NCIS: Sydney<\/em>, there is the opportunity to bring Hetty back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

With the\u00a0NCIS\u00a0<\/em>franchise still ongoing through the flagship series and\u00a0NCIS: Sydney<\/em>,\u00a0there is an opportunity to bring Hetty back<\/strong>. An episode could involve Nell\u2019s team coming to one of the other teams for support in Syria. Alternatively, one of the shows could be used as a way to mention Hetty and how the mission is going, which is something\u00a0NCIS<\/em>\u00a0season 22 recently missed an opportunity to do<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the end of the Los Angeles-based spin-off, there were also talks of a\u00a0TV movie that could wrap up Hetty\u2019s storyline<\/strong>. Considering the popularity of the\u00a0NCIS\u00a0<\/em>franchise, this could still happen, but it would depend on Hunt\u2019s availability and health. There is an interest to see Hetty saved and her story gain the closure that it deserves.<\/p>\n

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\"Chris<\/picture><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As the NCIS franchise continues to grow with various spinoffs, the question of returning characters from already concluded installments persists among fans. With Eric Christian Olsen recently expressing his minimal interest in reprising his role of Deeks for the franchise\u2019s future, I\u2019m also in a similar boat of being okay with the NCIS: Los Angeles crew remaining dormant, as their series finale mostly tied up everyone\u2019s stories nicely, save for Sam and Callen\u2019s being recruited to find Hetty in Morocco, a plot point I\u2019m still definitely intrigued to see closed out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

There is yet another way to bring Hetty back into the\u00a0NCIS\u00a0<\/em>franchise, and that is through the prequel series\u00a0NCIS: Origins<\/em>. Viewers have been treated to younger versions of Gibbs, Franks, and others from the flagship series, and there have been\u00a0suggestions that younger versions of other characters could be included<\/strong>. Dwayne Pride from\u00a0NCIS: New Orleans<\/em>\u00a0and Hetty Lange from\u00a0NCIS: Los Angeles<\/em><\/strong> are the two fan-favorite characters who keep coming up. While this wouldn\u2019t offer closure for Hetty\u2019s present-day story, it would allow viewers to learn more about the character\u2019s mysterious younger years…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NCIS: Los Angeles was the first show to expand the NCIS franchise, premiering in September 2009 and running for 14 wonderful seasons. One of the reasons the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2068,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066\/revisions\/2068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}