NCIS fans waited years for Nick Torres and Ellie Bishop to reunite and one thing is certain, their chemistry is still intact.
Warning: Spoilers below from season 23, episode 10 of NCIS.
“The connection between these two just doesn’t go away,” Emily Wickersham, who plays Bishop, exclusively told Us Weekly of her character’s bond with Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) ahead of her return to the CBS series on Tuesday, March 3. “Their underlying connection is always there.”
During Tuesday’s episode titled “Her,” NCIS agent Jessica Knight (Katrina Law) and her special NCIS Elite task force is on a mission to apprehend a wanted fugitive in Bishop (Wickersham), who has allegedly been stealing government files and turned dirty cop.
While on the run, Bishop stops at Torres’ place and instantly breaks into his hidden Twinkies stash, reminding fans how close the pair got before she left NCIS for an undercover assignment back in season 18 in 2021.
Throughout the episode, the truth comes out about Bishop’s assignment and why she is being hunted comes out — but only after she confides in Torres and they make amends. (Bishop’s black op team has a mole that sold them out and she is determined to find out who it is and save herself and her remaining teammates before they’re all killed.)
“I think enough time has gone by for him to realize that letting go was to respect the journey she wanted to go on,” Valderrama, 46, exclusively told Us, noting that Bishop confessing that she was “scared” Torres would ask her to stay when she decided to leave without saying goodbye still hurt.
Valderrama explained, “I think that [Bishop] made the right choice. How she handled it, I would say, directly from Torres, like, ‘Not cool, bro. I don’t like the way you did it.’”
After Torres and the rest of Bishop’s former NCIS teammates help her crack the case — and save both her life and her only remaining partner’s life — Torres sees her off at the airport.
Before Bishop boards the plane, she asks Torres to go with her. He responds, “For now, my place is here.”
“I don’t think it’s a right or wrong call,” Wickersham, 41, told Us of Torres’ turning down Bishop’s invitation. “I think that there is just such a great understanding between the two of them, and even if something doesn’t happen in the immediate … They’re living these parallel lives.”
She noted, “Their paths are intertwined,” hinting it’s not goodbye forever.
Valderrama agreed, pointing out that Torres “made an oath to his team” to stick by them and “protect” what they’ve built. He explained that the moment with Bishop is “confusing,” but it begs the question, “Is it the closing of our chapter, or is it the opening of a new one?”
Valderrama added, “I think he respects that we’re both on that dual track. Will that track intertwine again? I’d be surprised if they didn’t.”
During the final moments of the episode, Torres and Bishop kiss passionately, once again leaving the door open for a possible rekindled romance down the line.
“I think for those two characters, and the nature of those two characters, I think that they hope that at one point they find themselves getting shot at at the same time,” Valderrama told Us, to which Wickersham replied, “I like that.”
Wickersham also told Us that she “loves” the NCIS family and she’s “always open to more” cameos, so it’s not necessarily the last viewers will see of Bishop and Torres.
“I think we left the door open. I leave it up to the writers,” she said. “I don’t know their plan, but I had such a great time. And I’m always down.”
NCIS airs on CBS Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
