Like Noah Mills, many have made it known that Sam Hanna’s status as a recurring player for Season 3 is a highly anticipated affair fans won’t want to miss. While it’s pretty safe to assume he would prefer people don’t call it a comeback, even LL Cool J couldn’t contain his excitement, writing in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, “Couldn’t keep Sam Hanna off the case for too long!!”

Several executive producers weren’t shy about showcasing their support for adding the “NCIS: Los Angeles” alum. According to Deadline, Matt Bosack, Jan Nash, and Christopher Silber expressed their enthusiasm for LL Cool J’s involvement in a statement, saying, “All of us at NCIS: Hawai’i have been huge fans of LL Cool J for years and couldn’t be more thrilled or honored to be adding his spectacular talent to our ohana for season three.”

Vanessa Lachey was overjoyed to have Sam Hanna watching her back on the show and being able to hang with LL Cool J, aka Todd Smith, behind the scenes. “This is an amazing opportunity to continue evolving the NCIS franchise,” the actor told TVLine. “And what better way to do that than have Sam Hanna join the team.” She added, “From the moment we started filming the triple crossover, to hearing the news of Todd joining our team, it’s been laughs, love, and excitement all around.”

There is no denying plenty of people from the show are fired up about Hanna in Hawai’i, which is very different compared to how fans reacted to the news.