There was a time when it appeared inconceivable for NCIS to maintain going with out Mark Harmon main the cost as Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Then in Season 18, there have been rumblings that Harmon was getting as much as depart the favored CBS present, and he finally did simply that after the primary 4 episodes of Season 19. However NCIS nonetheless goes on, with Season 22 airing on the 2024 TV schedule, and Gary Cole’s Alden Parker taking up as staff chief instantly after Gibbs’ departure. But it surely wasn’t an abrupt transition from one character to the opposite, and Gary Cole talked about how a lot he preferred that whereas recalling the creation of Parker.
Gary Cole Was Happy With The Transition From Gibbs To Parker
Gary Cole visited Off Obligation: An NCIS Rewatch to speak with hosts Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo (who will reprise their characters, Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David, for the streaming-exclusive spinoff NCIS: Tony & Ziva) for the podcast’s season finale. Right here’s what the actor needed to say about how issues unfolded after Mark Harmon determined he didn’t need to be in NCIS anymore:
Mark, I suppose, wished to go away, and when that was mentioned or got here up, and I do not know when it truly got here up, it got here up someplace between season 18 and 19, they weren’t positive what they have been going to do there. There was discuss that they’d simply finish it. And from what I heard… I do not know why he could be stunned by that as a result of it may have been a risk. However then he agreed to start the nineteenth yr and do 4 reveals whereas they introduced on this different character. And I feel the way in which they did it was sensible, as a result of relatively than him leaving after which in the future there is a knock on the door. ‘Hello, I am the brand new man.’ We did reveals collectively concerned in the identical case. He labored for the FBI they usually have been working in tandem they usually had battle and all.
Govt producer Charles Floyd Johnson admitted in 2023 that he and others initially thought Mark Harmon leaving NCIS was the “demise knell,” although happily that didn’t occur. Even higher, relatively than simply take off after Season 18, Harmon caught round for the primary few Season 19 episodes, which allowed for a smoother transition from Gibbs to Parker. The latter was launched as an FBI agent who met Gibbs whereas they have been investigating the identical perpetrator, although Gibbs was doing in order a personal citizen. Whereas Parker was later tasked with arresting Gibbs, he allowed him to go free in Alaska, which resulted in him being fired from the FBI.
Gary Cole Shared The Key Distinction Between Gibbs And Parker
It didn’t take lengthy for Alden Parker to get again on his toes although, as he accepted Director Vance’s supply to guide the staff on the finish of “Face the Unusual.” Whereas there are many variations between Parker and Gibbs, together with Parker being extra open to trendy know-how and his co-workers completely different sorts of pastries, Gary Cole additionally talked about through the podcast what NCIS government producer Mark Horowitz informed him about the important thing factor that separates these two males:
Horowitz stated one thing which made sense, I suppose, in a broad manner, which was that if Mark was the strict father that everyone was afraid of and/or attempting to please, this man was the loopy uncle or simply the whoever that despite the fact that he is acquired the title of chief of the staff, he is solely utilizing the authority when it is necessary or simply for coordination. In any other case he is simply one other man within the room attempting to narrate to everyone that is round him. And that is how I went at it.
Gary Cole is now in his fourth season of NCIS, and there’s no indication he’ll be leaving the present anytime quickly. Season 22 nonetheless has but to additional discover the little lady that Alden Parker hallucinated seeing when he was injured within the Season 21 finale. We’ve since realized that Parker has no concept who she is, so solutions must be forthcoming because the season goes on. As for Mark Harmon, he’s now government producing and narrating NCIS: Origins, and he additionally briefly reprised Gibbs on digicam through the first episode.
NCIS airs Mondays at 9 pm ET on CBS. After their airing, new episodes may be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription alongside the procedural franchise’s different reveals.