The season 6 premiere of NCIS: Los Angeles is only a day away but a lot of buzz is currently centered on what the rest of the year will hold for the investigative team.

While "Ascension" will pick up just moments after the events of last spring's "Descent," by time the inaugural episode comes to an end there will be a significant time jump. Moving the timeline forward by several weeks, the jump will bring the following episodes into line chronologically.

However, the series 100th episode, "Reznikov, N," which was filmed as number 404, may not air until after the New Year. Chock full of exciting and game changing information regarding Callen's (Chris O'Donnell) past, CBS recently stated that the milestone episode is scheduled for mid-February - an unfortunate announcement that has many fans hoping that the date is some sort of typo.

Also looming on the horizon is a multi-episode Afghanistan story line. Executive producer John P. Kousakis has often teased the upcoming arc, but details are few and far between. Referring to the project as "Blue Cloud," Kousakis recently finished scouting locations and unit manager Rick Tunell stated that Kousakis will be directing at these new locales.

While this could mean the story line will be introduced in the Kousakis-directed episode 9, Kousakis just announced that he will spend this Thursday directing scenes from seven different episodes involving Daniela Ruah (Kensi) and Miguel Ferrer (Granger). It has been speculated that the Afghanistan story line is somehow related to a team member's absence later this season and, perhaps, since Ruah is currently expecting her first child, this early filming could help account for her maternity leave.

NCIS: LA returns to CBS on Sept. 24.

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