NCIS season 20 is set to be the first without Mark Harmon in the lead role of Gibbs.
Back at the start of NCIS season 19, Gibbs (played by Mark Harmon) left CBS viewers in tears when he told colleague and son-figure McGee (Sean Murray) that he was ready for a new life away from fighting cr1me. As NCIS enters its 20th season, Alden Parker (Gary Cole) has taken over as the show’s leading man, with Harmon relegated to the background – but showrunner Steven D Binder has confirmed the new series will shed light on Gibbs’ new life.
To recap, Gibbs left NCIS in season 19, episode four, following a stint of cr1me-solving and fly-fishing with McGee in Alaska.
Gibbs told McGee, after refusing to board the plane home with his colleague, “I’m not going back, Tim.”
Despite McGee’s dismissal of the decision as “crazy,” Gibbs told him that the “sense of peace” he felt was something he hadn’t felt since his wife d1ed, before planting a hug on his tearful colleague and saying, “I love you, Tim.”
Gibbs has been mentioned a few times in both NCIS and its spin-off NCIS: Hawaii since his dramatic exit.
But he hasn’t appeared on-screen, and while an appearance in season 20 seems unlikely, showrunner Binder has confirmed there are plans to give fans an update on his whereabouts at the very least.
“Where Gibbs is and how we left him is a really interesting veil.” “There’s this feeling among the writing staff – and I share it – that we left him somewhere but also somewhere,” Binder explained.
“Like, when I think of Gibbs, I don’t think of him living in an apartment in Alaska,” he continued. Instead, I imagine he’s dissolved into pixie dust and is floating around in the sky until summoned back to duty.
“When he’s ‘appeared,’ it’s been things like the college trust fund into which he deposited money, things that gave us no shape to who or what kind of life he’s living right now.”
In terms of Season 20, Binder told TV Line, “We do have plans to involve him in those ways again…
“Ways that don’t rip off the scab and ruin what I thought was the only appropriate ending we could have given this guy.”
Binder remained tight-lipped about how Gibbs’ latest update will appear on viewers’ screens.
NCIS fans, on the other hand, will undoubtedly be pleased to hear how the show’s former leading man is doing now that his cr1me-fighting days have taken a back seat.
After all, the show has frequently alluded to former fan favorites in the past.
Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) are two recent departures from the series.
Fans know the couple is happy in Paris, France, thanks to letters and updates from Tony DiNozzo Senior (Robert Wagner).
But, in the 20th season, could Tony make a surprise return to NCIS? Since the conclusion of Weatherly’s drama series Bull, fans have speculated and toyed with the idea.
However, it’s a rumour that Binder appears to have put to rest after answering the calls directly.
Binder “guessed” in another interview with TV Line that Weatherly would be taking a break from network television after leading the way on Bull for six years.
“I haven’t spoken to him about that, but we’ve talked over the years,” he said of a possible return, implying that there are no new plans to bring him back as Tony.
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