When NCIS returns September 21, viewers won't have to wait long to see what happens to Gibbs' father. The eighth season begins right where the seventh ended in May.

"We pick up the show right where we left off," executive producer Shane Brennan tells TV Guide. "I advise every fan of the show to sit down and watch that first minute."

"It's explosive. Ralph Waite is front and center throughout the episode."

A couple of images from the Season 8 premiere have emerged, one of which shows Gibbs Sr. is alive, at least in the onset, and the other showing he's not the only target ...

Who else is on the Reynosa Cartel's hit list? Who isn't?

Titled "Spider and the Fly," the premiere finds all of Gibbs' team as potential targets when their investigation of the murder of a helicopter pilot leads Gibbs right back to none other than the vengeful Paloma Reynosa, whose father Gibbs murdered in vengeance decades earlier.

The team members are looking out for each other and have each other's backs: "We'll get back into showing NCIS as the team that it's always been," Brennan says.

Hopefully everyone pulls through, including the Gibbs patriarch. Gibbs is, after all, his father's son. He can take care of himself. How will the team take Paloma down?

Comments and theories are welcome below ...

Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.