NCIS will ring in the new year with danger and intrigue, when it brings back a familiar face in January 2012.

And that face is a darn pretty one, too. TVLine has learned exclusively that Sarah Jane Morris — whose EJ Barrett was felled by a gunshot in the Season 9 premiere, only to have her body then go missing — is due back for at least one episode, to understandably shake things up.

“Last we saw EJ Barrett, she was gunned down and left for dead. Then she disappeared!” reminds Gary Glasberg, the showrunner of TV’s most-watched drama. “In January we’ll find out what happened.”

Given all that EJ had been wrapped up in prior to her, Tony and her colleague Cade being shot at — covertly couriering super-top-secret microchips and all — as well as how she then went missing, her return “will bring with it answers to unresolved questions, danger, and intrigue,” Glasberg teases. “Remember where we left off at the beginning of the season? Well, here we go, and we’re thrilled to have Sarah Jane back and along for the ride.”

NCIS — which just last week hit a season high in viewers and in the 18-49 demo — continues its ninth season next Tuesday at 8/7c with the return of Robert Wagner as Anthony DiNozzo, Sr., when Tony’s pop is found in a car with a dead body in the trunk and no memory of the previous night.

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