NCIS: Los Angeles will shed further light on Special Agent Sam Hanna’s murky past in a Season 3 episode that will tap into portrayer LL Cool J’s musical background.

“It is a very, very powerful episode, one that reveals something about [LL’s] character,” executive producer Shane Brennan tells TVLine. “LL Cool J is excited about it, and he is going to be involved in the music for that episode. So that is something to look forward to.”

Brennan originally eyed the Sam-centric hour for Season 2, but kept it in the drawing board. Instead, he expects it to be among “the first three or four episodes” of the CBS hit’s third season.

The show boss did not elaborate on LL Cool J’s involvement in the music — will the Grammy-winning recording artist handpick the songs that are used to score scenes, or will he himself contribute tunes? (“Hanna Said Knock You Out,” anyone?) But when I spoke to LL prior to the NCIS spin-off’s launch, he laughed off the idea that he would ever rap as Sam. “No, no, no…,” he deferred. “I’m going to allow this to be a new chapter in my life.”

As previously scooped, another NCIS: LA agent getting a blast of backstory during the coming cycle will be Daniela Ruah’s Kensi Blye. “Next season we’ll focus on … the why and where of Kensi,” Brennan told me, hinting that the spilled secrets will rattle the “thing” she has simmering with Deeks. “When you reveal something about one character that the other doesn’t know, it puts pressure on the partnership,” Brennan explains. “It makes them ask questions.”

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Wishing Eric Christian Olsen a very Happy Birthday!!!

Question: I’m dying for some Hetty scoop after the NCIS: LA finale. Is Linda Hunt on board next season as a series regular? —Daniel
Ausiello: Yes, she’ll be back as a regular. In fact, I predict Hetty will be the last one standing on that show.

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NCIS: Los Angeles couldn’t carry on without Operations Manager Hetty Lange (Linda Hunt), could it? That’s just the question creator and executive producer Shane Brennan is prepared to ask in the sophomore CBS drama’s final two episodes.

Tuesday’s episode (9/8c, CBS) finds the team investigating the death of a Navy SEAL imposter who was set on fire. The investigation uncovers new intel on the whereabouts of a stolen canister of radioactive material that could be used to make a bomb.

Claire Forlani to recur on NCIS: LA as new operations manager

But the real bombshell comes from a woman by the name of Lauren Hunter (Camelot’s Claire Forlani), who shows up at the Operations Center and utters the phrase, “I am Hetty’s replacement,” just as Hetty mysteriously resigns. Brennan acknowledges that the development is somewhat out of the blue, but he says that was by design.

“The chaos that causes within the team … and the sense of ‘Why weren’t we told what the hell is happening here?’ [is] what I think the audience will be feeling as well,” Brennan says. “We all get to experience it together in the last episode.”

Indeed, Hetty’s surprise exit in the penultimate episode doesn’t mean she won’t appear in the finale. “She is in the center of the episode,” Brennan says. “She has no scenes with any of our regular characters, but Hetty is doing her thing. Is she in a position where she may not return? Absolutely.

Finale Preview: Get scoop on 39 season-enders

“You’re going to see a side of Hetty that you haven’t seen before,” Brennan continues. “You’re going to see something about her that’s very revealing, and you’re going to see Hetty fire an angry shot. She’s going to discharge her firearm and she’s doing so in anger. And she’s not at the shooting range! It’s self-preservation.”

But Brennan maintains that the real journey of NCIS: Los Angeles belongs to Callen (Chris O’Donnell). As such, look for some major revelations in his ongoing investigation into his past. And as luck would have it, his secrets might just be connected to Hetty’s.

“You’re going to find out more about who he is, and you’re going to be as shocked as he is,” Brennan says. “He’s finding out things in this last episode in particular that will totally rock him and totally rock the audience too. It’s the next step, but it’s not a step — it’s a leap. The questions everyone will be asking over the summer are: Who is Callen? Who is Callen really? And how much does Hetty actually know?”

NCIS: Los Angeles airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on CBS.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you for thehilarious interview with Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) and Kensi (Daniela Ruah) from NCIS: LA this week. I LOVE it. They seem like so much fun, and I loved this week’s episode. Any word on the final two? — Billie

Cliffhanger. Both remaining episodes have one. Really good ones! “Full-blown panic attack,” says Eric Christian Olsen of your likely reaction. “I remember reading this script in the hair and makeup trailer, and getting to the end of it, and I literally jumped out of my seat, ran outside, and I was like, ‘What? What? What?!’ [I started] looking for a producer or someone to tell me what was going on. That’s what’s so much fun about this, is that these guys are telling stories over 100 episodes. We get it as the audience gets it, and I still get tons of adrenaline.” Daniela Ruah agrees. “I think followers of this show will definitely be having panic attacks, and will be looking forward to season 3 to know what the result is.”

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Like the stealth criminals often hunted on the show, NCIS: LA is a bit of a silent threat in the ratings game. Now in its second season, the show is frequently on the list of top-rated shows each week, and yet, it has silently given birth to one of TV’s new, completely addictive (but not romantically attached) pairs, Marty Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) and Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah).

Since Olsen’s upgrade to series regular in season 2, the partners’ undeniable chemistry has attracted the attention of fans — and yours truly. So EW got the pair on the phone to chat about tonight’s episode that will give fans new peek into this pair’s growing (hopefully romantic) bond. What we learned? The actors’ hilarious chemistry is not just for the screen.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I’m so glad we were able to get you both at the same time.
ERIC CHRISTIAN OLSEN: It’s a terrible idea, by the way. Terrible idea. [Laughs]
DANIELA RUAH: Just before you came on the phone, all I was getting from Eric was this: [Clucks like a chicken]
ECO: I thought it would be super funny if during this interview, Dani answered all the questions, and I just made chicken noises the whole time.

That would make for an interesting transcript. “His cluck sounded very tortured.”
ECO: Yes. The tortured chicken.

Well, I’m really excited to talk to you about Deeks and Kensi. You’ve said before that there was chemistry between you both as actors from the beginning. Did you expect the ‘shipper aspect of this to be as strong as it has been?
ECO: What is that? What is “shipper”? What does it mean?

It’s when fans want two people to have a relationship. So they abbreviate it as “shipper.”
ECO: What is that abbreviation for?

“Relationship.”
DR: Answer the damn question. [Laughs]
ECO: I don’t know! Because I keep reading it, and I have no idea what it means. “What, I’m on a ship? You want us to go on a cruise?” I don’t know what that means.

It’s: relationship = “shipper.”
ECO: I see. Relationshipper.
DR: I don’t think we expected the fans to want this so much. I mean, when I said we had chemistry right from the beginning, we got along as people, and we realized very early on that it would be so easy to play around with each other and to make something fun out of the relationship of these characters. I certainly didn’t predict what people would want from it or see in it.

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