NCIS: Sydney season 3 ended with one case seemingly closing and another up in the air — literally — but it’s the possible romance between Mackey and JD that has fans talking.
Warning: Spoilers below from NCIS: Sydney season 3, episodes 19 and 20.
During 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 think in Mackey’s world, that’s a success,” Swann, 33, exclusively told Us Weekly of the two-part conclusion that resulted in Meyers being back in custody. “We do leave a little kind of cliffhanger for things to come, which is always exciting.”
Swann noted that the cliffhanger has a lot to do with Callaghan escaping on a private plane after he orchestrated a prisoner switch — Meyers for Mackey’s ex and the father of her child, Ryan Brady (Ryan Panizza) — that gets messy. The good news? Mackey planted her cellphone on the plane before jumping off with Ryan in her arms.
“I think her decision to do that is, again, a very kind of maverick rogue move,” Swann explained. “And I feel like it was just done in the spur of the moment kind 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 “will be something that hopefully we see” when season 4 premieres in 2027.
While the action comes first on NCIS: Sydney, Swann teased that Mackey’s undeniable chemistry with Jim “JD” Dempsey (Todd Lasance), which is evident during the finale, will be touched upon next season as well. (During Mackey’s son Trey’s 18th birthday bash, she tells JD, he’s a “catch” and they exchange a cheeky look.)
“We are really focusing more on character connections and really building those this season,” Swann confirmed to Us. “So, that very much centers around Mackey and JD. Take with that what you will.”
She pointed out that viewers saw “ a lot more closeness between the two of them” during season 3, including seeing their “trust constantly 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 become a couple they “maybe would be surprised at how much their protection level would shift.”
She explained, “I think a lot of what they have is very unspoken and kind of subconscious with each other. If that were to shift into something more overt, I think they’d kind of be taken by surprise at how kind of big and deep the feelings might be.”
Swann also noted that the dynamic between teammates Evie Cooper (Tuuli Narkle) and Travis “Trigger” Riggs (Claude Jabbour) will be a big plot point next season after Trigger told Evie — and no one else — that he accepted another job, which opened up the possibility of a budding romance.
“It is interesting to understand a little bit more of Evie’s psyche to do with Trigger leaving for work, and how that affects her moving forward,” Swann said, confirming that fans will “see a little shift” in how Evie “operates” and in her “bravado” if in fact Trigger does leave the team as their resident bomb guru.
Season 4 of NCIS: Sydney will premiere on CBS sometime in 2027 as part of the network’s midseason lineup.
