The American television series by CBS, "NCIS," is now on its 15th season, and has returned on the airwaves as of Tuesday, Jan. 2 after the show's mid-season hiatus. This is great news for the fans; however, the show may not be coming up with episodes on a weekly basis -- which is the schedule that viewers are used to. 

As reported by Cartermatt, they have predicted that there may be fewer than four new episodes of "NCIS" season 15 that will be airing for the month of January. As it turns out, the show will not be airing a new episode on Jan. 16. The reason behind this is that a crossover episode with "NCIS: New Orleans" from season 14 is intended to be aired on that date. For now, it is still uncertain whether new episodes will be aired on the days of Jan. 23 and Jan. 30.

On top of that, whatever episode that may air this month may just be plot-oriented, especially since the show will have to build up a brand-new arc following the previous case involving the mystery murder of a casino hustler.  The series revitalized their cast, with the addition of Maria Bello, who plays Jacqueline Sloane, and the comeback of Clayton Reeves, who is played by Duane Henry. 

Whatever the schedule for episode release may be, it may not matter to the fans, since episode 11 of season 15 proved to be one of the most interesting ones this season -- with Wilmer Valderrama, who plays Nick Torres, and Emily Wickersham, who plays Ellie Bishop, going undercover to get to the bottom of a sting operation. 

Despite the incredible run that "NCIS" has had since it first aired back in 2013, the cast and crew are still up for a new a new installment once season 15 is over and done. This should be great news for the fans, especially since rumors have circulated in the past stating that the crime-thriller series would conclude after the current season — which is mainly due to the speculation that Mark Harmon, who plays Leroy Jethro Gibbs, might quit from the acting gig. 

Fortunately for the show's fans, it appears that the writers have not run out of fuel just yet, and are still constantly churning out great material to keep them interested. 

"NCIS" season 15 airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.