Tammy Gregorio, NCIS: New Orleans

Tammy Gregorio (Vanessa Ferlito)

Vanessa Ferlito joined the cast in Season 3 as FBI Agent Tammy Gregorio. Tammy was described as a “by-the-book bureaucrat,”  with a “completely different way of doing things — as well as a mysterious past — putting her at odds with both the team and the town.”

CBS President of Entertainment, Glenn Geller announced before the start of the season, during a TCA executive session, that Tammy would be an out lesbian  “They’re doing a storyline a little later in the fall where the audience will understand that and see that.”

Tammy was also listed in the NBC News article: 21 Fall TV Shows Giving Lesbian & Bi Women Screen Time as a new regular character who is openly lesbian and given screen-time.

On the show

Despite these announcements, in the first eight episodes the only thing the viewers learned related to her sexuality was that she was married to a man whom she divorced because he embezzled funds.

It wasn’t until episode 3×09 that viewers learned Gregorio also had a past relationship with a woman, Hannah Liam, during her time in  Washington D.C. Hannah worked for the United States Attorney’s Office and was visiting New Orleans in order to close a case against the leader of a drug cartel. During the episode, it was revealed Gregorio ended their relationship in order to focus on her career, although Gregorio told Hannah she was planning to stay in New Orleans instead of seeking higher level FBI jobs in D.C., causing Hannah to become upset and question the change of plans. Hannah only had a 1 episode appearance.

In episode 3×14 Tammy flirts with ex-Russian agent Eva Azarova and they shared a kiss (“Meeting you was nice too” “Too bad we won’t be getting to know each other a little bit” “Never say never”)

Ex-husband

In 3×18, Tammy was reunited with her ex-husband, Ethan McKinley (Ed Quinn). Ethan had embezzled $80 million in Katrina relief funds, was on the run and a suspect in a current NCIS investigation. He showed up at Gregorio’s apartment and asked her for help. Although unwilling, she initially kept it a secret from her team.

Gregorio explained she was “just a child when she met Ethan“, grew up with him and that he was “her everything“. And then she found out he had been conning people their whole marriage and decided to leave him and join the FBI: “everything I’ve done in the last 10 years has been motivated by that man’s betrayal“. McKinley flirted with Gregorio throughout the episode and tried to convince her to get back together; when he leaned in to kiss her, she told him she was gay. He tried again when she went to arrest him, claiming they were “meant for each other”.

Tammy’s sexuality did not come up again in the rest of the episodes of season 3 and she had no other love interests.

The show was renewed for season 4.

Appearances:

• 18 episodes.

Female love interests:

• Hannah Liam (Meghan Ory, lesbian, guest, 1 episode)
• Eva Azarova (Cassidy Freeman, lesbian, guest, 2 episodes)

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

Male love interests:

• Ethan McKinley (Ed Quinn, ex-husband, guest, 1 episode)

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? No

Filter Relationship Arc:

• None

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.