GRACE HELLO pls post your theories because i feel like im going crazy 😭😭😭 also im terrified lol
CHENÉ HI SO. had to scroll back thru the spiral dms from last month oop. the below is my main theory of how the storyline could go that pays imo best tribute to how the characters had been historically written and portrayed with the caveat that i have not paid close attention to this show in at minimum three seasons. also i reference one of the interviews that came out right after the ep so that’s that random bit.
im thinking ellie has been with the CIA (or other agency) in deep deep cover since we’ve last seen her BUT for her own safety (maybe being kidnapped +/- having to do something very much in the grey that Old Ellie would’ve never considered but it was either survive or die) she went dark/off grid and the agency now considers her rogue/defected (finding whatever she did to get free but bc she was never supposed to be there in the first place they won’t back her- very night agent vibes walk with me even if it hurts ok) so now both the agency & whoever she’d initially been in trouble with are after her so she’s intentionally gotten the attention of ncis elite with the last ditch hope that eventually her team will help save her & clear her name bc they’d know (nick would know) that she’d never do something like that if her life wasn’t in danger etc etc.
(from the interview comment “her friends are now enemies and her enemies are now friends” which i think is intentionally trying to plug a bait and switch that isn’t the obvious conclusion you’d jump to from that comment) it would be like the whole friends are enemies and enemies are friends thing is actually a twist of itself where the original “friends” aka CIA are now after her and the “enemies” is ncis elite which will realize they’re still friends. granted i think the team will be pissed enough at her bc she (purposefully) never told them it was all to become “disgraced” except for nick who guessed it but certainly never would’ve told any of them (and! he’ll be hurt enough initially he won’t speak up or push back when they assume she really is a fugitive) BUT at the same time he’s the only one of them that truly understands what she’s been through and i think deep down nick would want to protect her and get His Ellie back somehow someway even if it’s just a small part of her now so he’d end up arguing with the team that she’d never do something like that “it’s bishop we’re talking about! she [fill in the blank with how she’s impacted several of them], you know her McGee! like a sister. you know she wouldn’t do that unless she absolutely had to.”
and then yeah they work to clear her name and after they do she comes out of hiding, preferably in a fanfic sort of way like she’s at nicks dining room table when he gets home bc she never got rid of her key and apologizes and thanks him and expects him to throw her out but she just had to see him one more time before she left and he painfully tells her to stay.
i have hope they said they’re giving us closure on this arc and that there’d be opportunities for Emily to come back more if she so chooses that they won’t kill her off. my hope for the way she’s written back “off” is that she’s taking an indefinite leave, going down to oklahoma for a while, etc and then maybe she’s more often written in as side comments like her and nick are trying to work it out or something idk a girl can dream 💀
i think that’s it for my rambling!!! whoops it’s late and im jetlagged!! can you tell I’ve missed this 😭😭 i lost count of my track record on ncis theories, i think it was up to 3? maybe more? maybe we can add to that soon???
oh also- i don’t think she’ll be back in person in the winter premiere. a buzz like this they’ll want to drag out but not too long. i think we’ll see jess and the team work through shit next ep with maybe some flashbacks of ellie but i think (if they’re smart from a viewership perspective) they don’t bring her back on screen for new scenes until the second ep (since she’s confirmed to only be in one more for this arc)
