NCIS: LA Boss Previews Season 14 Wedding Plan (à La Doctor Zhivago?!), #Densi's Struggle To Be 'Cool Parents'

Is NCIS: Los Angeles heading for a wedding in Season 14, given that Callen (played by Chris O'Donnell) successfully popped the question to longtime love Anna (Bar Paly) in the May finale?

There will at the very least be some unexpectedly involved wedding planning, that is for sure.

In Season 14 of the high-octane drama, premiering this Sunday at 10/9c, Callen is "trying to embrace the concept of a wedding, which is not necessarily something someone like Callen is good at," showrunner R. Scott Gemmill shares with a chuckle. "He's looking at wedding venues, which is not a strong suit for him. And of course, he would like to elope, but as he says, Arkady (Vyto Ruginis) would like to have a wedding that recreates Dr. Zhivago with real snow. So they have a little disconnect in terms of what this wedding's going to look like."

Gemmill says it is "sort of an ongoing story this year in terms of Callen thinking about the wedding and what that means. This is somebody, obviously, who's been the typical lone wolf, so it's a big thing, trying to settle down and be in one place, and open up his life to somebody."

Adding to any anxiety about getting hitched is Callen's realization that "he has unfinished business, and wouldn't want to get married without Hetty (Linda Hunt) present. We don't see that [conflict] in the first episode, but it plays out over the first few episodes."

Might the oft-MIA Hetty possibly RSVP for Callen's big day? Read on for what Gemmill had to say about that, #Densi as parents, a blast from Kilbride's past and more....

As previously shared by TVLine in August, "The plan is to go and rescue [Hetty] at some point, find out what she's gotten herself into," says Gemmill.

"We're just trying to figure out schedule-wise when we can pull that off," he added. "That was the plan last year, too, but it didn't come to fruition. We had a bit of a [COVID variant] surge, but things seem to be settling down a bit, and we have a little bit normalcy back in shooting. Hopefully, nothing new comes along and we can make the happen this year."

At the end of last season, wannabe parents Deeks and Kensi (played by Eric Christian Olsen and Daniela Ruah) adopted Rosa Reyes, a young woman who was born on Guatemela and came to the U.S. seeking asylum. Though Deeks and Kensi were thrilled, the fact is that parenting a young woman is vastly different from doting over a small child.

"I don't want to say it's 'overwhelming,' but it's a little stressful for them — and they're trying not to be the stressful parents," says showrunner R. Scott Gemmill "They're trying to be the 'cool kids,' but they didn't really ease into this, and it's not like you have an infant who sleeps for eight hours a day if you're lucky. This is a teenage girl. So, they're trying to deal with the schoolwork and see if she does need a tutor...."

"They're very much enjoying it," Gemmill makes clear, "but they're the kind of parents who overthink things a bit, and they are a little overprotective for somebody who's actually not that young. It's played for fun for now, but then we're going to get into some issues in terms of what it's like raising a child from a different culture and how to be respectful and responsible for that."

As established last season, Sam's (LL Cool J) father, Raymond (Richard Gant), is now living with him, "and that proves to be a challenge," says showrunner R. Scott Gemmill. "Even in the premiere, he wants his father to spend time in sort of a senior center during the day, so that he not only has someone watching out for him, but because there are activities and can make some new friends." Raymond is of course at first reluctant, "but there's a little twist where he does meet someone, and doesn't get home until very late. So, it sort of backfires a little bit for Sam."

Elsewhere in Sam's family, an upcoming episode will reveal that his son Aiden "had to punch out of a test flight, and it is questioned whether it was pilot error or not, whether a 50-million-dollar airplane was destroyed because of something on his part." And you can be sure Sam will have something to say about that!

Gemmill says that whatever happened between Kilbride (Gerald McRaney) and his son that led to their years-long estrangement is "a story we would like to explore" down the road.

But in the more immediate future, viewers will meet in the Oct. 16 episode Army Colonel Jackson Ladd, a former colleague of the admiral's "who is struggling post-injury" (and is played by real-life war veteran/amputee Gregory Gadson).

Ladd "had been this 'superhero,' essentially, in the Army, and then having all that taken away, what does he do now?" poses Gemmill. "That's going to be a story that we explore, that relationship between Kilbride and Gadson's character."

Showrunner R. Scott Gemmill notes up front that the team's junior-most members simply enjoy a "good friendship," and there is "nothing romantic" planned to transpire a la #Densi. "We think that makes for a better and interesting relationship," the EP explains.

Instead, they will each deal with distinct personal matters.

Fatima (played by Medalion Rahimi) "is going to be doing a bit of dating" in a world that is quite different from her days as reality-TV doyenne. "She talks about that in, I think, Episode 3 where, about what she used to do in terms of dating and how that lifestyle is so far removed from what she is now," a federal agent. "She's having a bit of a dating crisis in terms of how to do things properly in terms of who and where she is right now, and how strict she follows her religion and whether she needs to keep wearing the head covering. That's something we've been talking to a lot of young women, Muslim women about, to see whether we're taking that in the right direction or if there's another, more interesting, way to go."

Rountree (Caleb Castille), meanwhile, is still grappling with his legal case with the LAPD, who profiled him late last season following a robbery. "It's a bit a self-examination where he must ask himself, does he pursue this for his own justification? Even if might affect [NCIS'] relationship with LAPD? Or is it better for his sister if he just lets it go away? He's having his crisis of conscience about how to proceed with that."

FUN FACT: Once and for all, no, there is no "d" in Rountree's last name. But rest assured, it irks Gemmill as much as anyone, TVLine editors included. "Let me tell you — when I was first typing in the character name, I was putting a 'd' in, and the script coordinator was taking it out! It has always been one of my regrets, that I didn't put my foot down and change it."

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