‘NCIS’ Season 13 Spoilers: The Season 12 Finale Cliffhanger ‘Significantly Affects Everyone,’ Plus Who’s Coming Back?

Nothing was wrapped up neatly with a bow by the end of the NCIS season 12 finale, “Neverland,” the third part of the case introduced in “Troll” and continued in “The Lost Boys.” In fact, one of the team has been shot twice, and that’s only the beginning of the questions left unanswered by the time the credits rolled.

Before the finale aired, Pauley Perrette told ET that they went “into a very disturbing territory…at the end.”

“What’s happening here is really going to stick with people. It’s a terrifying thing.”

In the NCIS season finale, the search for The Calling and its leader continued after an attack in Cairo left Dorneget dead and led to the introduction of his mother, CIA Officer Joanna Teague, played by Mimi Rogers. The investigation also led them to one of the terrorist group’s recruits, Luke, whom Gibbs seemed to have been able to get through to, though he did see Mike Franks warning him that he was being played. In the end, Luke shot Gibbs in the leg and chest when he, Tony and Joanna went to Iraq to find him. Watch that scene again below.

While “Neverland” did see a name and a face put to the leader of The Calling – Daniel Budd – he is still out there. After a chat with Samar, Vance seemed to have a pretty good idea about the group’s next target, and thanks to McGee beating a video game with an embedded message from the terrorists for the kids they recruit, they also seem to have a potential list of other targets. However, all of this is still left hanging by the end of the finale.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, the CBS drama has been renewed for a 13th season, and while that premiere is still months away, The Hollywood Reporter does have a few teasers about what to expect from executive producer Gary Glasberg, including who will be back in the fall.

The point of the end of the NCIS season 12 finale was to make fans “unsettled and unsure of where we’re headed,” the EP explained.

While Gibbs being killed off isn’t anywhere near even being a possibility, that doesn’t mean that what happened to him won’t affect him and the rest of the team, Glasberg teased.

“Regardless of the outcome, any time that Gibbs or one of our family members is in danger or injured, it significantly affects everyone. We’ll have to see the long-term effects and the psychological effects, but they’ll undoubtedly, as they always are, be there for each other. Then we’ll see where it takes [us] as we move forward to the coming episode.”

When the series does return for its 13th season, the premiere is going to start right where the finale ended, both Luke and Mike Franks will be back and it sounds like there’s more trouble headed the team’s way.

“We’ve got a lot of questions that need to be answered and then some impending danger that we need to deal with when we get back.”

NCIS returns to CBS in the fall for its 13th season.

[Image via CBS]