Although Diany Rodriguez has been playing the younger Vera Strickland since NCIS: Origins premiered on CBS last year, 12 years passed between when Roma Maffia originated the role on NCIS, then returned to it. Present day Vera appeared during the flagship show’s half of the crossover with Origins on the 2025 TV schedule earlier this week, as she worked the original case with Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Mike Franks in 1992 that was reopened three decades later. Maffia talked with CinemaBlend about what it was like coming back to NCIS after so long away, as well as if she’d want to reprise Vera again.
Vera was introduced in the NCIS Season 11 episode “Under the Radar,” i.e. the one that aired after Cote de Pablo made her final appearance as Ziva David as a series regular. A lot has changed on NCIS since then, including Roma Maffia performing opposite all-new faces with the exception of Sean Murray. But the actress had a great time working on NCIS this time around as well, telling me:
It was just as much fun. That show is like a well-oiled wheel. So even if you haven't been there in 12 years, you're welcomed in and you become part of the fabric. It's just easy peasy, and they make it easy to come back. They made it very easy. And also the script I think was written really well so that I could just step into it, and it was like no time had passed from 12 years ago.
Vera Strickland was drawn into the events of “Now and Then” when Thomas Mulligan, who took the fall for murdering Louis Burke in 1992, escaped from prison three weeks before he was already set to be freed. Vera, who knew Mulligan was innocent like Gibbs and Franks did, assisted the fugitive, and then Timothy McGee and Alden Parker took her in, she demanded to be brought back onto the case so she could finally get some closure on it. Eventually the full truth behind the events that happened in Serenity, California came out, and Vera returned to her life of retirement contently.
It’s good to hear Roma Maffia enjoyed her return to NCIS, but would she want to do it again? Despite Vera deciding not resume being a special agent at the title law enforcement agency, Maffia is absolutely game to continue playing the character. As she answered when I asked if she was interested in exploring more of the fun spark between Vera and Gary Cole’s Parker:
Yes. Absolutely, yes. I would love to. And let it be known that I think Vera is a great addition to the cast, for all of the reasons. Because of her earthiness, her instinctual, her motherliness, all of the attributes that she has are a plus in what they do.
Maybe Vera will change her mind about retirement someday and come back to work for NCIS on a part-time basis. Maybe there will be another case from her NIS days that requires her expertise when it’s reopened. Whatever the reason is, I’m game to see more of Roma Maffia on NCIS, and she’s clearly enthusiastic about spending more time with this role.
For now, though, you can continue watching Diany Rodriguez bringing early 1990s Vera Strickland to life on NCIS: Origins, which airs Tuesdays at 9 pm ET on CBS, immediately after NCIS. Use your Paramount+ subscription to stream those shows and the rest of the NCIS franchise series whenever the mood strikes.
