“NCIS” fans have been left in a state of limbo by the Season 21 finale. It saw Agent Jessica Knight (Katrina Law) make a huge change to her career, accepting a position with the REACT Academy at Camp Pendleton at the urging of Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll). Saying yes to the job means moving to California, which endangers her relationship with Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) and promises to separate her from her friends in Washington, DC. But will her departure be permanent? Fans congregating on the “NCIS” subreddit are a little too savvy about the way contract negotiations work to believe she’ll be gone for long.

“She’s not leaving. It’s reported she signed on for the next season,” said u/bbmarvelove. “I don’t think Katrina Law is leaving as cast exits on this show are usually announced well in advance of a character’s final episode,” noted u/ChrisF1987. On top of that, fans have noticed that Law appears in the promotional material for Season 22. So why try to convince devotees that she’s on her way out? The majority of those posting believe that the show’s head writers are fueling this plotline because they wanted to add some extra tension to Knight and Palmer’s romance.

Unless CBS is trying to pull a fast one, it’s likely there will be plenty of adventures involving Knight in our future. While it seems pretty clear to fans that she’s going to end up sticking around, it’s also possible that her storyline could be a building block toward the future of the franchise as a whole. Could Knight’s trip to the West Coast have an impact on another upcoming “NCIS” spin-off?

Jessica Knight’s decision to take a job as Chief Training Officer with REACT Academy puts her at Camp Pendleton — which happens to be where the latest “NCIS” spin-off takes place. “NCIS: Origins” will follow the early years of Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Austin Stowell) at the faculty. It’s quite possible Knight’s move might have something to do with the spin-off, which will be airing right after “NCIS” every week. Might she dig into his past and discover something the team never knew, forcing her to drag her old colleagues into her new life? 

Whether she peeps into Gibbs’ history or not, members of the show’s Reddit fanbase think that something else might happen to drive Law back to the East Coast. “It will be somehow [Nick] Torres [Wilmer Valderrama] who will be the key for her to get back … He will get her to understand you cannot run away from something that has happen and you cannot run away from her family [with] team and [with] Jimmy!” theorized u/SnooRadishes3698.  “They’ll probably [show] her there and not enjoying herself as much as she did back in DC. Then something will happen where the MCAT team will have to go to San Diego and somehow she’ll go back,” said u/UWished209.

Audiences will find out where Jessica’s loyalties lie when Season 22 of “NCIS” debuts on October 14.