LL Cool J brings 'NCIS: New York' aboard the USS Intrepid for a star-packed premiere

On the evening of October 1, 2026, CBS held the official premiere of 'NCIS: New York' on the flight deck of the retired aircraft carrier USS Intrepid in New York Harbor. The new spin-off, launching on CBS on October 6, sees Grammy-winning rapper-actor LL Cool J reprise his long-running character Sam Hanna, now relocating from Los Angeles to lead a Naval Criminal Investigative Service team in New York. He stars opposite Scott Caan ('Hawaii Five-0') and newcomer Brian Dietzen in a hard-boiled procedural pitched to the global 'NCIS' audience of hundreds of millions of viewers. At the premiere LL Cool J said he was 'still finding new things' in Hanna after 17 years playing the character. Variety, Yahoo Entertainment and SheKnows led international coverage of the carpet, including looks at a trailer that drops Hanna straight into a Brooklyn waterfront case.