NCIS: Sydney season 3 ended with one case seemingly closing and another up in the air – honestly – but it's the potential romance between Mackey and JD that has fans talking.
Warning: Spoilers below from NCIS: Sydney Season 3, episodes 19 and 20.
During the two-part Season 3 finale, which aired on Tuesday, May 12, fans watched as Special Agent Michelle Mackey (Olivia Swann) brought down The Collective's frontman, Lee Meyers (Angus Sampson), before corrupt US government official Czar John Callaghan flees Australia with a master drug dealer.
“He gets the last word with Meyers. So I guess in Mackey's world, that's a win,” Swann, 33, told himself. Us Weekly of the two-part finale that resulted in Meyers' return to custody. “We're leaving a little bit of a cliffhanger for things to come, which is always exciting.”
Swann noted that the cliffhanger has a lot to do with Callaghan's escape on a private plane after arranging a prisoner swap – Meyers' ex-Mackey and the father of her child, Ryan Brady (Ryan Panizza) – that gets messy. The good news? Mackey put his cell phone on the plane before jumping and hugging Ryan.
“I think his decision to do that, again, is kind of a bad move,” Swann explained. “And I feel like it's just kind of done with the thing at the moment.”
Ryan Panizza as Ryan Brady and Noah Eid as Trey Mackey.
Daniel Asher Smith/Paramount+The actor added that Mackey is “teasing JD” by playing coy about what happened on his phone “to Mackey a lot” and that the storyline is “something we hope to see” when season 4 starts in 2027.
When the action comes first NCIS: SydneySwann teased that Mackey's undeniable chemistry with Jim “JD” Dempsey (Todd Lasance), which appears in the last season, will be touched in the next season as well. (During Mackey's son Trey's 18th birthday, he tells JD, “he's catching up” and they exchange cheeky looks.)
“We're really focused on character connections and building those this season,” Swann confirmed Us. So, that's mostly focused on Mackey and JD. Take what you want.”
He revealed that viewers saw “a lot of intimacy between the two of them” during season 3, including seeing their “trust grow more and more” and their bond “growing.”
Claude Jabbour as Travis 'Trigger' Riggs and Tuuli Narkle as AFP liaison officer Constable Evie Cooper.
Daniel Asher Smith/Paramount+“I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes [season] 4,” admitted Swann, teasing that if Mackey and JD were a couple “they'd probably be surprised how much their defense would change.”
He explained, “I think a lot of what they have is not talking too much and it's like they don't care about each other. If that would turn into something obvious, I think they would be surprised how big and deep the feelings can be.”
Swann also noted that the dynamic between teammates Evie Cooper (Shut up Narkle) and Travis “Trigger” Riggs (Claude Jabbour) will be a major plot twist next season after Trigger tells Evie — and no one else — to accept another job, which opens up the possibility of a budding romance.
“It's interesting to understand a little bit about Evie's mind about Trigger going to work, and how that affects her going forward,” said Swann, confirming that fans will “see a little change” in the way Evie “works” and in her “bravery” if Trigger leaves the group as their bomb instructor.
Season 4 of NCIS: Sydney will premiere on CBS sometime in 2027 as part of the network's midseason schedule.
