The Real Explanation For Linda Hunt’s Absence From NCIS
For 13 seasons, NCIS: Los Angeles has enthralled viewers with a mix of hot storylines and characters, who, if not always loveable, are certainly engaging. Of those characters, Hetty Lange — played by Linda Hunt — is probably the fan favorite, but she’s mysteriously disappeared of late. She’s known for being enigmatic, sure, but she more or less went missing in Season 13. And the question fans are asking is: “Why?”
Operations manager
Hunt’s character, Lange, is the manager of operations for the L.A. NCIS unit. And she’s quite the character. Not just a speaker of several languages, pilot, and mountain climber, but also an Olympic medalist! Yes, Lange won a gong for rifle shooting: skills which have helped her out of the odd sticky situation.
End is nigh?
But Hunt is no spring chicken, and fans began to question — during a Season 12 that saw her only appearing intermittently — whether her retirement was nearing. And this suspicion was only reinforced by Season 13, in which she only showed up for the opening episode. Was this the end of the much-loved character?
Slow starter
In Hunt’s early years, it would have been a great surprise to her folks that she would grow up to be a Hollywood star. In her infancy, living in late-1940s Connecticut, she showed signs that she wasn’t yet showing the kind of physical coordination and fine motor skills usually displayed by children her age. In fact, doctors believed that she was destined for an institution.
Supportive parents
But mom Elsie was not putting up with that kind of talk. She and her husband Raymond put theater and books to use in creating an environment in which Hunt could develop. And it worked: by the time she was school age, she’d nearly caught up. Her parents didn’t stop there, and Hunt would later acknowledge how much they’d put into her upbringing.
