Mark Harmon and Sean Murray, who play Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Timothy McGee on NCIS, are in their 18th season. They are the only remaining cast members from Season 1 with the exception of Ducky Mallard (David McCallum).
However, Harmon and Murray’s working relationship dates back even further. When they first met in the mid-1990s, Harmon was playing a “drunken rodeo clown,” according to Murray.
‘NCIS,’ according to Sean Murray, is successful because of Mark Harmon.
Murray and Harmon have appeared in over 400 episodes of NCIS over the course of seventeen seasons. It is officially one of television’s longest-running scripted dramas. Murray also attributes the show’s success to Harmon.
“We wouldn’t be here 16 years later if Harmon hadn’t been there,” Murray told Country Living in 2019. “Harmon is a one-of-a-kind individual.”
Harmon is regarded as a mentor by Murray, who describes him as “a real actor” who “goes for the realness of it, the truth of it.” He went on to say that while every actor strives to do so, Harmon is simply “good at it.”
Since the pilot episode aired in 2003, Harmon has been the star and executive producer of NCIS. Murray first appeared as a recurring character in season one. He quickly gained popularity among both fans and producers. Murray was a full-time cast member by season 2.
The actor claims that after so many years of playing McGee, he’s gotten to the point where he can switch the character “on and off.”
Harmon and Murray met on the set of a short-lived TV show in the 1990s.
Murray began working on Harts of the West when he was only 15 years old. Beau Bridges and his father Lloyd starred in the Western dramedy. And it was set on a Nevada dude ranch.
The show lasted only one season, from September 1993 to June 1994. It was also Murray’s first television series. The actor recalled an episode in which Beau’s brother Jeff Bridges was supposed to appear as a guest star. The Big Lebowski star, however, was unavailable due to a scheduling conflict. Murray claims that they needed someone else to play a “drunken rodeo clown.”
“And they had Harmon come in and do the part instead… which I’ll never forget.” That’s where I met Harmon for the first time. “And he left an impression on me even then,” Murray says.
Despite the fact that Harmon and Murray didn’t spend much time together on set, the St. Elsewhere alum remembered him when they reconnected on NCIS “after all those years.”
Gibbs and McGee have some issues to work out following the season 18 premiere of ‘NCIS.’
NCIS fans have finally received answers to the sh0ck1ng season 18 cold open, which saw Gibbs shoot McGee twice. During the fifth episode, it was revealed that Gibbs was attempting to save McGee’s life. Regardless of Gibbs’ intentions, Murray claims that the gunshots did a number on his character, both mentally and physically.
The episode ended with questions about McGee’s mental health and his relationship with Gibbs. Murray promised that his character “doesn’t d1e.” But, he still has a rough recovery ahead of him.
“A lot of it isn’t just physical, but emotional,” Murray explained. “Just wrestling with and coming to terms with — even if it’s done to save your life — the fact that someone so close to you, who’s more like a father figure to you than even your real father was, shoots you.”
Murray promises that both McGee and Gibbs will struggle in the aftermath of the shooting.
“We very realistically explore some of the emotions and thoughts of what that really would be in dealing with that,” Murray explained. “It’s just the sh0ck of what it is, and the reality of, how do we face this and move past it?”
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