A Gossip gal will have the NCIS: Los Angeles team all abuzz when Michelle Trachtenberg guest-stars in a holiday episode of the CBS drama.

TVLine has learned that in NCIS: LA‘s Dec. 17 outing, Trachtenberg will play Lily Montgomery, a smart, witty, charming and physically capable environmentalist-slash-private chef. When a scary home invasion turns Lily’s life upside down, she does her best to keep a brave face, despite dangerous and uncertain circumstances.

“We’re very excited to have Michelle guest on the show,” says NCIS: LA showrunner Shane Brennan. “It’s a very intense episode which pairs Michelle with Callen and Sam (played by Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J), in what is probably one of our biggest action shows so far this season.”

Trachtenberg this past weekend turned in an acclaimed performance in the record-breaking National Geographic Channel TV-movie Killing Kennedy, as Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife. Her previous TV credits include runs on Weeds, Six Feet Under and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and a memorable January 2013 episode of Criminal Minds.

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He’s Pelant without the pesky murder habit!

Bones vet Andrew Leeds is taking his well-honed computer skills to NCIS: Los Angeles later this season in a significant recurring role, TVLine has learned exclusively.

He’ll play Booker, the team’s newest tech operator who is smart, guarded, focused and curt. His eye for detail is an asset. His OCD? Not so much.

Leeds’ Bones‘ baddie Pelant was an IT instructor-turned-serial hacktivist/killer. His reign of terror on the show came to an end last month, although — as TVLine reported earlier this week — Leeds is set to reprise his signature role in early 2014.

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It’s all aboard for Tuesday night’s episode of “NCIS: Los Angeles” when the team has to track down the murderer of a train-yard security guard. In so doing, they expose a much bigger threat than our agents initially bargained for.
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“We’re doing a pretty spectacular — let’s call it a runaway train episode, which is very challenging because we’re using real trains,” executive producer/showrunner Shane Brennan tells xfinityTV in an exclusive interview about the visually amazing episode, which uses virtually no CGI. “We’re shooting in a number of places around town [including Travel Town Railroad]. It’s going to be a real fun episode, but it’s a complicated and very heart-stopping series of stunts.”

We are now five episodes into Season 5 of “NCIS: Los Angeles,” and both Sam (LL Cool J) and Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) are still recovering from the torture they endured in the Season 4 finale — and Deeks and Kensi (Daniela Ruah) still haven’t dealt with their kiss.

“I don’t think that anyone on our team that was involved in that traumatic experience — you can’t be unchanged by that,” Brennan says. “It’s always there. It affects Deeks more than Sam.”

So what changes can we expect as a result? Brennan spills the goods:

Last time we spoke, you told me just when the audience thinks things are back on an even keel for Kensi and Deeks, they’re not. So what can you tease about their future?

A very, very bumpy ride. This season is the season of Kensi and Deeks. We haven’t hesitated to pull this story forward, which started with the spontaneous kiss that opened up this Pandora’s Box of emotions.

Of course, before that could be resolved, Deeks was tortured and went through all of this trauma and he is still recovering from that. So, their relationship is very much unresolved and remains unresolved — talked about and discussed — but still unresolved through the first part of the season.

A little later in the season, around Episode 10 or so, things take a fairly difficult turn for both of them. About eight episodes later, there is a pretty shocking revelation that deeply affects both of them and has them both questioning everything about their relationship, particularly Kensi.

That suggests that we’re only going to touch on their relationship in Episode 10 and 18. In fact, it’s ongoing. For fans of Kensi and Deeks, there is a really, really strong arc that runs through this season and they are going to love it. They might hate me sometimes, but they will love it.

Does Daniela’s real-life pregnancy affect their story?

We can lay to rest that this is Deeks’ baby. It is not Callen’s (Chris O’Donnell) baby either. It is Dani’s baby and we are writing around that fact. It’s wonderful that she is pregnant, and we are all excited for her, but it won’t have any role in the show.

Sam seems OK. We saw his shrink session with Nate (Peter Cambor), in which we learned that he does have concerns that some day when he tunes out, he might not tune back in. Will he have lingering effects?

The interesting thing about Sam is he is a Navy SEAL and he has been through the torture training. We have seen him tortured in flashbacks way back in, I think, Season 1. He has been through some pretty tough times and traumatic times. He has been trained and he bounces back and he seems fine.

Now, the reality with all of these guys who go through these traumatic experiences is, eventually, you can’t put any more liquid in the glass and it spills out the top. At some point, that will happen to Sam. There is only so much you can mentally and physically take — usually mentally — before, “That’s it. I’m done.” That is something that is never far from Sam’s mind, because he has seen it happen. While we move on with Sam, that is his lingering concern. That said, I am not saying we won’t come back to how it affected Sam.

Will we see Sam’s wife Michelle (Aunjanue Ellis) back this season?

Let me say that she won’t be back anytime soon in this season, but it is possible that she will be back. I want to hold onto that. Will we see Michelle again? Yes, we will. She’s fabulous. She’s a great character in her own right.

From the first episode — in fact, prior to the first episode, it was always my intention to have Sam married and have children and just hold that information back and have it casually come out, which it did. Callen knew and Hetty (Linda Hunt) knew, but Deeks and Kensi didn’t know and were surprised. We had fun doing that.

There are other things about Sam that we don’t yet know that Callen and Hetty know and that will be revealed. As complex and unknown as Callen’s backstory is, Sam’s backstory, his home life, and his history is perhaps what you might call more traditional, but it is still to be revealed.

Any chance that Kim Raver will be able to make a guest appearance to follow up on the “Red” episode now that she is going to “24: Live Another Day.”

Never say never. I loved working with Kim. She is just a delight. You never know what will happen. “NCIS” and “NCIS: Los Angeles” — now that we’ve reached 100 — are juggernauts. While I like to plan ahead, I don’t think I can plan two, three, four seasons ahead, so you never know what might happen. I loved the character. I loved Paris Summerskill. I would like to bring her back.

“The Livelong Day” episode of “NCIS: Los Angeles” airs Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 9/8c on CBS.

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Can I get some Kensi and/or Deeks scoopage? Thanks for all the NCIS: LA love, Sandra! — Jadyn
In an upcoming episode, one of these two is going to get help for a very serious problem that’s usually reserved for male celebrities who get caught cheating on their wife: sex addiction. Yup, in an upcoming episode Deeks will find himself in a Malibu rehab center seeking help for this, um, troublesome issue. “The audience will have to wait to see if he’s undercover of if he’s got a serious issue,” jokes executive producer Shane Brennan.

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Densi time!

Since the beginning of NCIS: Los Angeles, there’s been an ongoing focus on telling Callen’s story. In the 100th episode, Callen found out more about his father and even got a glimpse of a happier time when they were together.

According to Shane Brennan, the focus will now shift back to developing the story of Kensi and Deeks. In Part 2 of my interview with the show’s creator, Brennan, discusses the relationship between Kensi and Deeks. He also teases some of the the other fun stories that will be explored this season…

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The events of “Descent” and “Ascension” were horrific for the team, yet they seem to have come out stronger because of it. Will both positive and negative repercussions from that case continue to be explored this season?

Shane Brennan: Yeah, absolutely. It’s very important when we take a character through a fairly intense emotional situation that you can’t forget that. You can’t ignore that in future episodes. It has to be there. It’s another part of their makeup. It goes into their DNA.

Particularly for Deeks, who went through that traumatic situation, there are consequences to that. And, even prior to that, that spontaneous kiss that he gave Kensi. They never really got to talk about that before he went through that traumatic situation. So there’s a lot yet to be spoken about and through these first 9 or 10 episodes of the season, that’s never far away.

The two of them are circling each other and it becomes a problem. This season while we celebrate the 100th episode and we lift another veil off Callen’s eyes to reveal his past, it really is kind of the Kensi-Deeks season because of what happened with the kiss, what happened with his trauma, how that affects him plays out into their relationship.

By the 9th or 10th episode, it has some fairly dramatic consequences. And, then we put them both in a situation through the next 8 or so episodes. They are struggling with what happened in the 10th episode and then in the 18th episode there’s this pretty powerful and surprising revelation that changes the course of their relationship in a very, very big way. And, it has nothing to do with Dani [Ruah] being pregnant by the way.

We won’t be addressing that. Dani’s pregnant. Kensi’s not. Through the magic of television hopefully no one will notice she’s pregnant. There’s a series of steps throughout this season that crank up the relationship further and further and further. There’s a pretty powerful revelation towards the end of the season that forces them to take stock.

Does that give you the opportunity to show more backstory about how Deeks and Kensi became the people they are today?

There are parts of their backstory that are revealed. More about Kensi than Deeks. I guess of all the — of Callen, Sam, Deeks and Kensi, we know the least about Deeks because he was the LAPD guy who came to them. He was the late starter in their team. We know he was once a lawyer. We know he’s LAPD. We’ve had a little bit of backstory about him. The fact that he shot his father, but there’s much more to reveal about Deeks.

A little of that will be hinted at this season, but that’s for a season to come. You said earlier that we are pretty fearless about how we do this, we purposefully went into this relationship so that — I don’t want the audience to start hating them because nothing ever happens. We are giving the audience a big, fun ride this season with these characters and this relationship.

The kiss was unexpected. The audience wasn’t expecting that. That’s why we did it. What we are revealing this season the audience won’t be expecting it and that’s why we’re gonna do it. We’ll keep doing that because that’s what makes this relationship fresh in a landscape sometimes where you have these unrequited relationships. The audience can get a little annoyed if you don’t move it forward. We’re trying to do that in a way that keeps everyone engaged and interested and wanting to know more. This season the audience will get to know more.

I was against Deeks and Kensi hooking up until the very end of last season and it came across as so authentic which sold it to people who were against it.

Yeah. It is. A lot of it goes to how Dani and Eric [Christian Olsen] played it. And, also in the words that were written, but they totally delivered it in a very authentic way. I’m really glad you cast it in those terms because that’s what it felt. It felt real. And, that’s why we want to keep playing with that relationship.

We can do it in a very authentic way. Life is never as black and white as it can be on television and happy endings are hard to find in relationships and in life. And, I think we can explore their relationship in a very real way. And, certainly that’s what we do in this season. We have arced the story out until episode of 18 already and it’s a lot of fun and it’s very authentic and it feels real.

And, that’s really important to achieve that in a show that is an entertaining procedural is what it is yet we still manage to find these very authentic moments for these characters. It’s great to be able to do that.

I interviewed Eric this summer and he said he thought the contents of the box would be revealed this summer. I know fans are clamoring to know about the box. Can you confirm that the mystery behind the box will be revealed this season?

I can tell you that later in the season, he takes the box down and puts it on his desk and stands over it and he may or may not open it. I can tell you that.

What else would you like to tease about season 5?

We see Nell out in the field again. She gets to fire her gun in anger. We see her out in the field again later in the season as well.

There’s a little more of the budding romance and fun, nerdy romance between Eric and Nell. And, the nerdy jealousies.

There’s some great pairings this season too. We’ll have some very interesting partnerships.

We’ll be seeing more of Granger. You’re gonna see Miguel [Ferrer] in a way that you’ve never seen him before. We are using his formidable acting abilities this season and people are going to be blown away by him. He’s fitted into the show way beyond my hopes and expectations. And, we love writing for Granger and there’s a lot for him to do this season.

The other thing we’re going to do for the fans that just love the Sam and Callen partnership, we’re going to see them go undercover together again. We haven’t done a lot of that lately, but there’s going to be some very memorable episodes this season where we get to see the two of them doing their banter, doing their undercover thing and just having a lot of fun in the way the series began with them undercover.

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Just because Daniela Ruah has a baby on board doesn’t mean her NCIS: LA counterpart will as well. In fact, says exec producer Shane Brennan, if all goes according to plan, viewers won’t even be able to tell that Ruah is carrying around more than just her gun these days.

“We won’t be referencing the fact that Dani is pregnant on the show at all,” he says. “And through the magic of television and with great editing and acting and great story lines, the audience won’t even know she’s pregnant. “

Additionally, he said, his current plans to pack this season with plenty of Kensi and Deeks remains largely unaffected. “Anyone who has followed their relationship is in for a pretty interesting ride,” he says. “There’s going to be a lot revealed about their relationship. It’s going to go beyond the kiss and it’s going to have some pretty amazing ramifications for both of them. And just when you think it might have sorted itself out, late in the season, there is a revelation, about the two of them, I guess — but in particular about Kensi — that will totally rock their relationship.”

The surprise, he says, has been in the works since season 1, “and it’s been sitting there quietly ticking,” he says. “It’s a great arc. Yes, we’ve had to adapt a little because Dani is pregnant, but as a result, it’s become an even more powerful journey for both of them this season.” (Bonus: Check out a sneak peek of episode 100 here.)

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