#How will Wilmer Valderrama’s Nick Torres move forward?

As we prepare ourselves for NCIS season 19, there are few characters in as fascinating a spot as Wilmer Valderrama’s Nick Torres.

After all, just think about what happened at the end of season 18! This is a guy who took a long time to open up after so many years undercover; it was clear that he had fallen for Ellie Bishop and now, she’s gone. The grounding force of his life departed almost out of the blue, and that’s without even mentioning his father figure in Gibbs being suspended. There’s no guarantee that he will come back at all! (Reports for now indicate that Mark Harmon will have a limited presence in season 19.)

If you want to watch our review of the NCIS season 18 finale, be sure to watch it below! After you do, remember to SUBSCRIBE to Matt & Jess on YouTube! In addition to our regular NCIS reviews we’ll be discussing such shows this summer as Animal Kingdom and American Horror Story. You don’t want to miss out on our coverage!

So when you think about Torres’ story moving forward, the only word that comes to mind is “adrift.” This is not going to be the same sort of year for the character! With the people that he cared about stepping away, he could easily be less trusting of the world around him. He may rebuild those walls out of fear of getting hurt again. While Nick doesn’t like to show that he is vulnerable, we know that he is; if someone challenges him about his feelings, he could act out! This season could feature more of his rebellious side.

In the end, though, we hope Torres doesn’t completely backslide into who he was when he first joined the team. One of the most important things with NCIS is evolution, which is why on our end, we’d love to see a new probie enter the team, someone who Torres could mentor. We want to see him take on different responsibilities and be more of a leader. If Gibbs is gone for good, the other agents will have to pick up the slack. While we imagine that McGee will be more of the team leader, we think that Torres could chime in here and there and use his experience for good.

On the romance front, we just hope that there isn’t any. After the heartbreak of the finale, we don’t want to see Torres get into some other relationship. Maybe he has a casual fling to try to get over Bishop but like we said, we don’t want to see him forget about everything he’s learned the past few years.

Related – Be sure to get some more news on NCIS, including details on Gary Cole’s new character

What do you want to see from Wilmer Valderrama as Torres on NCIS season 19?

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This article was written by Jess Carter. Be sure to follow her on Twitter.