After working collectively on the medical drama Chicago Hope, Rocky Carroll and Mark Harmon reunited on NCIS in 2008 when the latter got here aboard to play Leon Vance in Season 5. The 2 actors remained cast-mates on the favored CBS procedural (which might be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription) till early fall 2021, when Harmon exited in Season 19’s fourth episode. Three and a half years later, Carroll nonetheless seems to be again on his time with Harmon on NCIS fondly, as evidenced by him explaining to CinemaBlend how the Leroy Jethro Gibbs actor went to nice lengths to make sure the forged and crew have been motivated.
Recalling a narrative Carroll instructed final 12 months about when Mark Harmon pranked him in the midst of taking pictures one in every of his earliest NCIS scenes, I requested the actor throughout my interview with him if there every other amusing on-set tales involving Harmon that he may recall. He began off by telling me:
Effectively, that story offers the overview, It actually goes again to the query you requested prior. When you have got a job like that, it does not really feel such as you’re at work. You are part of a workforce. Individuals overlook Mark Harmon was a quarterback. Mark Harmon was a quarterback for UCLA, so he has the mentality of workforce… It isn’t solely what you do on the sphere and when the cameras are rolling, it is the way you relate to one another within the locker room. What sort of locker room do you have got? In order that sort of stuff, the pranks, kind of the enjoyable stuff that we might try this simply to maintain one another motivated.
Leroy Jethro Gibbs was NCIS’ lead character for over 20 years, and Mark Harmon took on extra duties when he turned an government producer in Season 6. So it is smart that Harmon had the mindset of a pacesetter throughout that point. It wasn’t sufficient for him to only play his character and provide notes or options on every episode. He additionally wanted to take care of the forged and crew’s morale and guarantee that everybody was working collectively as a cohesive unit, very similar to how soccer gamers must jive collectively as a workforce. Rocky Carroll continued:
As a result of typically you bought 12 hour days the place you are taking pictures a scene and your personal location, and now you are within the fourth hour of the scene that you simply’re taking pictures. So in case you do not get pleasure from one another, have a bit enjoyable collectively, these can be some actually brutal days. The tradition that he created, the ‘locker room’ that he created was at all times good and at all times constructive, and it really works on each side. The blokes on the crew, they’ve numerous enjoyable. There are numerous pranksters on each side of the digicam, and fortuitously, we work in a job that enables us to try this and have a bit little bit of enjoyable with one another. So it’s one of many causes that so many individuals who began on that present 22 years in the past are nonetheless there.
Rocky Carroll actually nonetheless enjoys engaged on NCIS in any case this time, telling me through the interview he’s “excited” to maintain his 15+-year streak going as a result of he enjoys each taking part in Leon Vance and likewise directing episodes right here and there. If that camaraderie wasn’t current, little doubt he not solely would have left NCIS way back, however the present may not even nonetheless be on the air. Fortuitously that’s not the case, and we are able to anticipate to see much more of Vance when NCIS Season 23 premieres this fall on the 2025 TV schedule.
As for Mark Harmon, along with nonetheless being an government producer on NCIS, he carries out those self same duties on NCIS: Origins, narrates the prequel and even briefly appeared on digicam within the opening two-parter. Each exhibits air Monday nights on CBS.