Spoilers below for the latest episode of NCIS: New Orleans, titled "Homeward Bound," so be warned!
The metaphorical writing is on the wall for CBS' long-running drama NCIS: New Orleans, which will be closing out its Big Easy investigations when Season 7 is complete, with CBS having announced the cancellation in mid-February. Thankfully, the writers were apparently already setting up some big moments for Scott Bakula's Dwayne Pride before that news went public, and fans got to watch a big and meaningful reveal for his personal life: Pride is getting married!
NCIS: New Orleans made a perfect casting choice back in Season 3 when Scott Bakula's real-life wife Chelsea Field was added as U.S. Attorney Rita Deveraux. Rita, of course, became the key love interest for Dwayne Pride, and their relationship has been a cute one to witness, even if Rita's work causes her to do quite a bit of traveling. In fact, the latest episode revealed that she was offered a new job in Kansas City, but she shared with Pride later that she turned the gig down specifically to stick with him in New Orleans. That heartwarming info inspired him to pop the big question, only things went sideways when Pride couldn't find the ring he planned to give Rita.
Amusingly enough, Rita is the one who moved the ring, having witnessed Pride hiding it the day before, but clearly not doing a good enough job with that. So any idea plans that Pride may have had went right out the window, but that disappointment was quickly swallowed up by the joy that Rita basically accepted his quasi-proposal without hesitation. There's probably going to be a wedding, y'all, even though I believe Scott Bakula and others had previously stated that the show wouldn't go that route with Pride and Rita. I guess cancellation news changes things.
Check out the scene in question below, as shared by NCIS: New Orleans.
It was a relatively quiet moment for such a big life change for these characters, but considering all the times TV shows have delivered large-scale proposals, the subdued approach was kind of refreshing. And it makes enough sense that Pride didn't have an elaborate proposal plotted out, not only because NCIS: NOLA's narrative is set during the pandemic, but because Pride just isn't exactly the biggest Casanova.
And as one fan pointed out on social media, Scott Bakula isn't known to be the more romantic one in his relationship with Chelsea Field, so they also weren't surprised by Pride's limited social graces.
Even though NCIS: New Orleans is coming to an end, the franchise definitely isn't drying up as a whole. The flagship series is still running strong as far as ratings and viewership are concerned, but with some rumors floating around that star Mark Harmon may not fully extend his contract after the ongoing Season 18. It's been reported that Harmon has had conversations with producers and network execs about returning part-time as a stipulation to secure the show's nineteenth season getting ordered. Plus, there are also talks about another coastal spinoff in the form of NCIS: Hawaii, and I'm thinking Pride and Rita are going to need to go somewhere for their honeymoon. (Perhaps they'll run into Quantum Leap's Sam Beckett, since Bakula is already getting pegged with questions about that classic show's potential return.)
With just six episodes left to go in the pandemic-shortened Season 7, NCIS: New Orleans airs Sunday nights on CBS at 10:00 p.m. ET. Be sure to tune in to see how things wrap up for Pride, Rita, Tammy Carter and the rest, since we might not see them again outside of possible cameos on other NCIS shows. I mean, unless that whole Gregorio & Lund spinoff comes to life (which probably won't happen).
