Nick Torres may be approaching a turning point in his career, and NCIS Season 24 is giving him a reason to question whether he still belongs on the team. In Episode 3, “Sleeping Dogs,” Wilmer Valderrama’s character reconnects with a former undercover handler who offers him a new opportunity working with the CIA. What begins as a case connected to Torres’ past could eventually become something much bigger, potentially pulling the special agent away from NCIS.
The development is especially significant because Torres does not simply agree to consider a different assignment. His reunion with Walt Keller, played by Mike O’Malley, forces him to confront a side of himself that he may have struggled to reconcile with his life as an NCIS agent. By the end of the episode, Torres is seriously considering whether deep-cover work is where he belongs.
That does not mean Valderrama is leaving the CBS drama. No departure has been announced, and the CIA opportunity could serve a larger purpose in the show’s ongoing storyline. Still, “Sleeping Dogs” introduces a believable path that could eventually take Torres in a different direction.
Nick Torres Reconnects With His Undercover Past
The latest case brings Torres back into contact with Keller, the handler who recruited him shortly after he completed his training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, commonly known as FLETC.
Keller understands Torres from a time when his life looked very different. Rather than viewing the agent’s undercover identity, Dante Navaro, as merely a role he once played, Keller challenges him to consider whether that persona reflects something fundamental about who he is.
His argument puts Torres in an uncomfortable position. Torres has built a life at NCIS, working alongside colleagues who know him as a federal agent. Yet Keller suggests that his current professional routine may not be as authentic as he believes.
Torres initially resists that interpretation. However, as the investigation progresses, he acknowledges something more complicated about his past: he enjoyed aspects of his undercover assignments, including the darker actions they required, and remembers feeling more alive while carrying them out.
That admission gives the storyline its emotional weight. Torres is not simply choosing between two jobs. He is confronting the possibility that the identity he left behind still holds an undeniable attraction.
His conversation with team leader Alden Parker, played by Gary Cole, helps bring that realization into focus. After the case is resolved, Torres tells Parker that the investigation unexpectedly helped him understand himself better.
By the end of “Sleeping Dogs,” Torres visits Keller at his cabin to discuss the proposed CIA work. The meeting signals that he is willing to explore the opportunity, even though the consequences for his future at NCIS remain uncertain.
Could the CIA Assignment Lead to Torres Leaving NCIS?
Keller initially presents the arrangement as a side job, giving Torres a chance to return to deep-cover operations without necessarily abandoning his current position.
However, that setup could become difficult to maintain if the assignment grows more demanding. Deep-cover work may require a greater commitment than Torres initially expects, and his renewed interest in that world could complicate his relationship with his NCIS responsibilities.
If the work proves more fulfilling than his current role, Torres might eventually consider making it his primary career. Such a decision could mean separating from the team, although the episode does not establish that he intends to leave.
There is also an important precedent within the franchise.
During NCIS Season 18, Ellie Bishop, portrayed by Emily Wickersham, departed the team to undertake a classified CIA mission involving deep undercover work with Odette Malone, played by Elayn J. Taylor.
Bishop’s storyline demonstrated that an undercover assignment can provide a way for a character to leave NCIS while remaining connected to the show’s intelligence and law-enforcement world.
Torres’ new opportunity could follow a similar path. Alternatively, the writers may be using the assignment to explore his identity without ultimately removing him from the team. At this stage, both possibilities remain open.
A Bigger CIA Mystery May Be Developing in NCIS Season 24
Torres’ personal crossroads is unfolding alongside a potentially much larger intelligence storyline.
In Season 24, Episode 2, the NCIS team’s investigation intersects with an ongoing CIA operation after agents discover that an intelligence agency tactical unit broke into the home of Greg Fenwick, played by Michael McMillian, and his wife, Linda Fenwick, portrayed by Erica Piccinini.
The team obtains security footage from the couple’s robot vacuum, allowing NCIS forensic scientist Kasie Hines, played by Diona Reasonover, to identify CIA Agent Russell Cross, portrayed by Emerson Brooks.
Cross subsequently explains that the CIA has uncovered evidence of a potentially extensive network of deep-cover operatives who have been living in the United States for years. He cannot establish the size of the group or determine its ultimate objectives, but the investigation has already identified the Fenwicks as suspected long-term undercover spies.
The couple’s cell becomes the CIA’s first lead into the wider operation, raising the possibility that the investigation could extend across much of the season.
For NCIS, the situation creates an unusual problem. The team has only limited information about what the CIA is pursuing, while the intelligence agency is attempting to uncover a network whose full scope remains unknown.
Director Tony DiNozzo, played by Michael Weatherly, later warns Timothy McGee, portrayed by Sean Murray, that a serious development is approaching and that it has drawn concern from multiple people. The team eventually allows Linda to remain at large in the hope that she will stay active in the field and provide a route to understanding the cell’s activities.
That unresolved investigation could intersect with Torres’ new CIA assignment.
If Keller’s work connects to the same network, Torres might become involved in a larger operation that directly affects NCIS. However, the episode does not confirm that the two storylines are connected. His assignment could remain a separate exploration of his undercover past rather than becoming a central part of the intelligence agency’s investigation.
Either way, the parallel developments give the show room to expand Torres’ story while building on a mystery that has already begun to affect the wider team.
NCIS Is Entering a New Era of Team Changes
The uncertainty surrounding Torres comes as the flagship series introduces several other significant changes.
Weatherly has returned as Tony DiNozzo, who is now serving as NCIS director. Meanwhile, Secretary of the Navy Helen Marsh, played by Jillian Armenante, is considering McGee for a potential move into her position.
DiNozzo has also encouraged McGee to take on a mentee, suggesting that the series is exploring how its established characters might assume different responsibilities as the organization evolves.
These developments do not establish that Torres will leave, but they place his storyline within a season that is already examining the future of the team and its leadership.
The broader franchise is also welcoming familiar faces across its fall lineup, with Mark Harmon returning in NCIS: Origins and LL Cool J reprising his character in NCIS: New York. Against that backdrop, Season 24 is balancing franchise nostalgia with questions about what comes next for its central characters.
For Torres, the question is particularly personal. He has discovered that his past undercover identity may still be an important part of who he is, and Keller has offered him a way to explore that side of himself again.
Whether the CIA opportunity becomes a temporary assignment, a crucial link to the larger espionage mystery, or a genuine path away from NCIS remains unknown.
For now, Torres has taken the first step by agreeing to discuss the work. The bigger question is whether he can return to his familiar place on Parker’s team after discovering how much he misses life undercover—or whether this new chapter will eventually change his future at NCIS for good.
