A deep-cut Easter egg for NCIS’ upcoming 1000th episode effectively demands Mark Harmon to reprise his role as Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Losing characters isn’t an alien concept for long-running shows on TV. Almost every procedural has gone through its fair share of casting reshuffles, including NCIS. Just two years after it premiered in 2003, the series bid goodbye to its first original player, when Sasha Alexander decided to exit the series as Caitlin Todd. CBS used it to set up a compelling send-off, which saw the former Secret Service member getting murdered by Ari Haswari — Ziva David’s brother.
This established early on that NCIS has a revolving door when it comes to cast members. NCIS season 21 marks the first time that it doesn’t have any original character in its active roster. That being said, arguably its biggest departure remains to be Harmon’s when Gibbs retired in season 19. The agency has moved on, with Special Agent Alden Parker spearheading the team, but conversations about when his predecessors might return persist. Now, NCIS’ 1000th episode just made a case for why it should be the perfect time to see Gibbs back in Washington, DC.
NCIS 1000th Episode Will Reference The Show’s Pilot Episode
Not much is known about what exactly happens in the NCIS franchise’s 1000th episode, but some pertinent information about the outing has already been revealed. its story won’t be tackled in a crossover special, instead, it will exclusively play out in the mothership series. Director Leon Vance will be at the center of the narrative, which makes sense, as it effectively involves all branches of the agency. This allows for cameos from Special Agents that are not based in Washington DC. Finally, NCIS’ 1000th episode will see the return of Joe Spano’s Tobias Fornell.
Ahead of the special’s premiere, however, long-time cast member Sean Murray teases what to expect from NCIS’ 1000th episode. He teases the inclusion of many callbacks from the show’s most memorable episodes. Having been in the procedural since season 1, albeit not an original cast member, the Timothy McGee actor has been part of many of those outings. Interestingly, however, Murray particularly references NCIS’ pilot episode, “Yankee White,” when talking about said deep-cut references. For context, the premiere saw the Gibbs’ team responding to a mysterious death on Air Force One. It’s the same outing where they met Todd.
My favorite thing of what we’ve done in the 1,000th episode is we have got little Easter eggs and things hidden all through the episode—and not even just hidden. We call back to a lot of things, but it’s a little hard to describe. It’s a great show for the people that are just tuning in for the first time or new fans. For the people that have been with us for a long time, it’s really something special because you’re going to see, like I said, Easter eggs of things. You’re going to see things that tip-off to old episodes, famous episodes that we did. Little moments. We have characters come back that we haven’t seen in a very long time.”
- Advertisement -For example, like it was very much part of the first episode of the series, “Yankee White. Air Force One is very involved in that as are characters from that episode and from our past there. It’s going to be a cool one.
Gibbs Is The Only Character Who Worked On NCIS’ Pilot Case That Can Return
It’s uncertain how NCIS’ 1000th episode will harken back to the show’s pilot case. For starters, it was a weekly case that was resolved at the end of the hour. There was no other lingering mystery left to be solved after that. Instead, it was merely a way to connect Gibbs to Todd, who eventually joined the agency after being fired from the Secret Service. It’s worth noting that Fornell did appear in the outing but wasn’t really part of the investigation, since NCIS insisted on taking custody of the case, which he was happy to do for Gibbs.
This means that everyone who worked on that case is gone, although some of them can still return. Among those options, however, Gibbs is the perfect candidate for it. Both Ducky and Todd are dead. Meanwhile, Michael Weatherly’s Tony DiNiozzo just returned in NCIS season 21, and while it would be great to see him again, doing a repeat of his recent cameo doesn’t seem appropriate for a big episode like the show’s 1000th. Abby Sciuto, on the other hand, can also come back, but that’s a more complicated situation, considering Pauley Perrette’s controversial exit from NCIS.
Why Gibbs May Not Return In NCIS’ 1000th Episode
Harmon’s Gibbs is always welcome to return. Even when his comeback to the mothership series is still not confirmed, he will re-establish his connection to the franchise by spearheading the next expansion show, NCIS: Origins, which tackles Gibbs’ earliest years with the agency. Aside from providing the voiceover for the project, he and his son, Sean Harmon, will function as executive producers of the series. Despite this, there’s still massive interest in seeing him physically return to the main NCIS show.
Although NCIS’ 1000th episode calls for Gibbs’ return, the chances of him coming back are slim to none. Spano’s involvement effectively functions as a conduit for the character. Meanwhile, the procedural’s creatives have shared that they plan on making the most out of Gibbs’ inevitable return. They don’t want to bring him back just for a cameo, they want a compelling story that would revolve around the character, which cannot be done in the 1000th episode special.
