Jason Antoon shared his vision for his NCIS: Hawai’i character, Ernie Malik, with Us Weekly should the series return for season 4.
Antoon, who has been playing Ernie since the series premiere in 2021, exclusively told Us that he loves how his character is a “brother or father figure” to Lucy Tara (Yasmine Al-Bustami) and Kate Whistler (Tori Anderson).
“I just love that he gets all that information out from them, and he secretly probably wants them to get married and wants to marry them,” Antoon, 52, teased of Ernie’s possible fate for the next season. “Not that the writers ever said that, but that’s my prediction.”
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The actor explained that he’s officiated in real life, so he’d happily do the job on TV.
“I’m sure Ernie will come up with some kind of crazy thing [to] officiate their wedding,” Antoon said. “It would be so funny.”
Lucy and Kate started dating in season 1 of the series and briefly split in season 2 before rekindling their romance later that season.
Al-Bustami described the relationship between Lucy and Kate as a “teacup ride” that “spins around” during a May 2023 interview with Distractify. She noted that after the first two seasons of the drama, she felt like season 3 helped the couple stop the “ride” and become “settled.”
For fans to get a Lucy and Kate wedding — and see their romance take another step forward — the series would need to come back for season 4.
While NCIS has been renewed for season 22, NCIS: Hawai’i hasn’t officially been picked up by CBS for season 4. (NCIS: Sydney was renewed for season 2 and the new NCIS prequel, NCIS: Origins, was given a full-season order. NCIS’s Tony and Ziva spinoff has also been greenlit at Paramount+.)
Antoon, meanwhile, is optimistic that will change soon.
“In Hawaii it’s ohana and joining that [NCIS franchise family] has been really awesome, such a gift, and I’m so grateful to be a part of it all,” he told Us. “Hopefully we can get renewed and continue from our side, from the Hawaiian side. Fingers crossed.”
Antoon noted that both he and his costars are “cautiously optimistic” about what will come next. “I think we’d all be very shocked and saddened if it didn’t happen,” he added.
One month prior, CBS Studios president David Stapf told Deadline that NCIS: Hawai’i is “wholly unique” from the other shows in the franchise, hinting that a renewal was very possible.
“It [is] unique, [has] a female lead [and is] set in Hawaii,” he explained. “We were just coming off Hawaii Five-0, a very successful show. People love that setting, it plays well [all] over the globe.”
NCIS: Hawai’i airs on CBS Mondays at 10 p.m. ET.
