NCIS: Sydney season 3 ended with one case seemingly closing and one other up within the air — literally — but it surely’s the possible romance between Mackey and JD that has fans talking.
Warning: Spoilers below from NCIS: Sydney season 3, episodes 19 and 20.
Throughout the two-part season 3 finale, which aired on Tuesday, May 12, fans watched as Special Agent Michelle Mackey (Olivia Swann) took down The Collective’s lead man, Lee Meyers (Angus Sampson), before corrupt government official US Drug Czar John Callaghan fled Australia with the drug dealer’s intel.
“She gets the last word with Meyers. So I feel in Mackey’s world, that’s successful,” Swann, 33, exclusively told Us Weekly of the two-part conclusion that resulted in Meyers being back in custody. “We do leave a bit form of cliffhanger for things to return, which is all the time exciting.”
Swann noted that the cliffhanger has rather a lot to do with Callaghan escaping on a non-public plane after he orchestrated a prisoner switch — Meyers for Mackey’s ex and the daddy of her child, Ryan Brady (Ryan Panizza) — that gets messy. The excellent news? Mackey planted her cellphone on the plane before jumping off with Ryan in her arms.
“I feel her decision to do this is, again, a really form of maverick rogue move,” Swann explained. “And I feel prefer it was just done within the spur of the moment form of thing.”
Ryan Panizza as Ryan Brady and Noah Eid as Trey Mackey. Daniel Asher Smith/Paramount+
The actress added that Mackey “teasing JD” by playing coy with what happened to her phone is “just so very Mackey” and a story line that “might be something that hopefully we see” when season 4 premieres in 2027.
While the motion comes first on NCIS: Sydney, Swann teased that Mackey’s undeniable chemistry with Jim “JD” Dempsey (Todd Lasance), which is obvious throughout the finale, might be touched upon next season as well. (During Mackey’s son Trey’s 18th birthday bash, she tells JD, he’s a “catch” and so they exchange a cheeky look.)
“We’re really focusing more on character connections and really constructing those this season,” Swann confirmed to Us. “So, that very much centers around Mackey and JD. Take with that what you’ll.”
She identified that viewers saw “ rather a lot more closeness between the 2 of them” during season 3, including seeing their “trust consistently growing” and their bond “deepening.”
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 that goes in [season] 4,” Swann confessed, teasing that if Mackey and JD turn out to be a pair they “perhaps could be surprised at how much their protection level would shift.”
She explained, “I feel plenty of what they’ve may be very unspoken and form of subconscious with one another. If that were to shift into something more overt, I feel they’d form of be taken by surprise at how form of big and deep the sentiments could be.”
Swann also noted that the dynamic between teammates Evie Cooper (Tuuli Narkle) and Travis “Trigger” Riggs (Claude Jabbour) might be a giant plot point next season after Trigger told Evie — and nobody else — that he accepted one other job, which opened up the potential for a budding romance.
“It’s interesting to grasp a bit bit more of Evie’s psyche to do with Trigger leaving for work, and the way that affects her moving forward,” Swann said, confirming that fans will “see a bit shift” in how Evie “operates” and in her “bravado” if the truth is Trigger does leave the team as their resident bomb guru.
Season 4 of NCIS: Sydney will premiere on CBS sometime in 2027 as a part of the network’s midseason lineup.