NCIS: LA: Where in the World Is Hetty? Linda Hunt Offers Health Update

This fall on NCIS: Los Angeles, the only mystery bigger than what is to become of Callen & Co. in the wake of the off-book Mexico op fallout is the ongoing absence of one Henrietta “Hetty” Lange.

Well, Linda Hunt is here to give fans an update.

The 73-year-old Academy Award winner was involved in a car accident over the summer, on July 2. And though she suffered “no serious injuries” and hoped to be back filming the CBS drama sooner rather than later, the timetable has obviously changed (seeing as Hetty on-screen has pulled one of her infamous vanishing acts).

“I first want to say how much I appreciate the outpouring of support from the NCIS: Los Angeles fans following my car accident this summer,” Hunt shares in a statement obtained by TVLine. “Though I had hoped to return to playing Hetty at the start of the season, I had to take some additional time to recover. I look forward to returning later this season.”

An original cast member since the series’ September 2009 launch, Hunt is a two-time Teen Choice winner in the TV Actress: Action category. In Hetty’s Season 10 absence, Esai Morales has come on as Deputy Director Louis Ochoa, the D.C. bigwig who is helping the NCIS team avoid being disbanded in the wake of their unauthorized mission to save Mosely’s son from his cartel-boss father, while Gerald McRaney has recurred as Navy Admiral Hollace Kilbride.