The "NCIS" franchise is synonymous with backdoor pilots. These are episodes that essentially entail new characters being introduced to a mothership series in the hope that fans gravitate toward them and demand spin-offs. "NCIS: Hawai'i" broke the spin-off tradition by resisting this method in favor of having faith in a fresh batch of characters from the get-go. However, "NCIS: Los Angeles" Season 17's latest episode has backdoor pilot vibes sprinkled all over it.
Daisy Van Sant is portrayed as a strong character who'd make a good boss, so perhaps she'll head a spin-off about the cold case division. In the past, "NCIS" series have typically introduced an entire team of new characters in episodes of this ilk, so Season 17's latest installment bucks a trend by only introducing one newcomer. That said, pausing some ongoing storylines to give the team a random cold case mission suggests that CBS is thinking about the future of the franchise.
Only time will tell if "NCIS: Cold Case" becomes a thing. If it doesn't, though, there will definitely be other spin-offs at some point.
