LL Cool J takes NCIS Agent Sam Hanna from 'Los Angeles' to 'Hawai'i'
LL Cool J will reprise his role as Special Agent Sam Hanna on "NCIS: Hawai'i."
Credit: CBS / Erik Voake
Actor and hip-hop icon LL Cool J, who played Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent Sam Hanna in CBS’ recently concluded “NCIS: Los Angeles,” is joining the companion series “NCIS: Hawai’i” as a recurring guest star.
“Couldn’t keep Sam Hanna off the case for too long!!” the Bay Shore-born Grammy Award winner, 55, wrote on social media Monday night following his cameo appearance in the “NCIS: Hawai’i” season 2 finale. “Starting tonight, Sam Hanna will join forces with the @NCISHawaiiCBS team as a recurring guest star in the upcoming third season.”
“Surprise! Our ohana is growing,” wrote “NCIS: Hawai’i” star Vanessa Lachey on Instagram, using the Hawaiian word, also spelled with an apostrophe as ‘ohana, meaning “family” both literally and with a larger sense of tribal community. “We’re so excited to have @llcoolj join #NCISHawaii!”
In a statement accompanying CBS’ formal announcement, she added, “One of the most beautiful things about working on ‘NCIS: Hawai’i’ is the show’s ability to bring the franchise together. We have had so much fun spreading the aloha to [flagship show] ‘NCIS’ and ‘NCIS: LA’ with the triple crossover” in January. “Now, we have the amazing opportunity to bring Sam Hanna to Hawai’i to help the island solve some cases and maybe have a few laughs in the process. Welcome to the ohana, Todd!” she said, using LL Cool J’s preferred version of his birth name, James Todd Smith. “It’s going to be a fun ride!”
LL Cool J’s Agent Hanna appeared at the close of Monday’s “NCIS: Hawai’i” episode, “Dies Irae” (Latin for “Day of Wrath”), assisting Lachey’s Jane Tennant, the head of NCIS Pearl Harbor, and FBI Special Agent Kate Whistler (Tori Anderson) when the two are attacked by gunmen in Venezuela.
“I was in the neighborhood when I got the call,” he quips to them afterward. He had been in Morocco, he says, “But, hey, what’s a few borders and an ocean, anyway? … If you need anything else, you got my number.”
"NCIS: Los Angeles" ended its 14-season run on May 21.
LL Cool J spent his early days on Long Island and in Queens until junior high school, living with his grandparents in that borough. For several years he and his family made their home in Manhasset, where his children attended public school.
