We know how many episodes will be in NCIS: Hawaii

The 2023–2024 TV season is going to be much shorter than normal due to the writer and actor strikes. While most shows are going to get 13 episodes, that’s not the case for NCIS: Hawaii. We now have a confirmed total number of episodes.

We’ve been working with the idea that most shows would have between 10 and 13 episodes. It looked like a lot of shows were aiming for 13. We’ll see that with the likes of Chicago PD and SWAT. However, some episode counts are going to be shorter, but the shows haven’t quite confirmed them all.

As TVLine got an update about whether we’ll meet Heather Boone in NCIS: Hawaii Season 3, the answer came with an episode count update. There’s a little bit of bad news for fans who want closer to a full season order.

NCIS: Hawaii Season 3 will have 10 episodes

The bad news is that we won’t get a 13-episode season. NCIS: Hawaii will only get 10 episodes. That certainly explains the two-week break that we recently had. CBS will need to space out the episodes to make sure the finales can air in May. May is the big time for the finales, and CBS will want to end the season somewhat normally even if it couldn’t start it that way.

This does suggest that the flagship series will also only have 10 episodes. With the two shows airing on Mondays back-to-back, it wouldn’t make sense for one of the shows to get 13 episodes and the other to only have 10.

We have seen SWAT get 13 episodes compared to Blue Bloods’ (and probably Fire Country’s) 10, and that led to the other two shows getting a night off when SWAT aired two episodes. It’s the best way to keep everything as close to on track for all shows to wrap at the same time in May.

It does mean another break is likely on the way. There are only five episodes of NCIS: Hawaii Season 3 to air, and there are many more weeks to get into May. Expect a couple of weeks off in April.

NCIS: Hawaii airs Mondays at 10/9c on CBS.