'NCIS' promotes Diona Reasonover after Pauley Perrette's exit

July 19 (UPI) -- NCIS is promoting Diona Reasonover in the wake of Pauley Perrette's exit.

The 26-year-old actress will play Kasie Hines as a series regular in Season 16 of the CBS series following Perrette's departure from the police procedural.

CBS confirmed the news in a tweet Wednesday.

"Queue @DionaReasonover! We are so excited to welcome you full-time to season 16 of #NCIS as forensic scientist, Kasie Hines!" the studio wrote.

Reasonover first portrayed Kasie in a recurring capacity in Season 15. She appeared with the cast in the Season 15 finale, which marked Perrette's final episode after 15 seasons as Abby Sciuto.

NCIS Season 16 will star Mark Harmon and David McCallum, who play Leroy Gibbs and Ducky Mallard. NCIS posted a video Monday of Brian Dietzen, who portrays Dr. Jimmy Palmer, after filming began on the new season.

"I just got finished filming the first scene of the first episode of NCIS Season 16... and it was great!" the 40-year-old actor said.

"We premiere on September 25th, so please tune in," he added. "I mean, I've just got to say, if every scene do this year is as good as the one we just did... I don't want to toot our own horn here, but it wasn't too shabby."