So far, Brian Dietzen (who plays Dr. Jimmy Palmer) has co-written two NCIS episodes with Scott Williams, and a third isn’t out of the question.
But, given that those two episodes aired in Seasons 19 (“The Helpers”) and 20 (“Old Wounds”), there are a lot of characters he hasn’t gotten to write for yet due to cast departures over the years, so which would he like to?
“I adore a lot of these characters. Gibbs [Mark Harmon], Tony [Michael Weatherly], Ziva [Cote de Pablo], and Abby [Pauley Perrette] are all obvious. “All of these voices are just iconic,” says Dietzen to TV Insider. “So, if any of these came back, I would be overjoyed to write for any of them.”
It’s difficult for him to choose just one because there’s something he’d enjoy doing for all of them. “It would be fantastic to write for Tony and be able to have those jokes and then have the know-it-all attitude but with a heart of gold underneath,” he says. “Having Abby’s energy in there, but also her heart as big as the sky. And, of course, Gibbs, whenever you want to really turn on some emotion in our show, you have Gibbs crack just a hair, and it’s amazing entertainment.”
He also took the opportunity to praise his former castmates, noting, “these of course are all personified by incredible actors. So I would welcome the opportunity to work with any of them again. It would be fantastic.”
However, given how things have changed, Dietzen believes it is unlikely that everyone will return at the same time. “When you think about it all together, if they all came back at the same time, it’d be a completely different show, right? It isn’t the show we have now. There has been such a team and familial transformation that it would most likely be one of those.”
Speaking of being unique, Tony’s return could be quite intriguing, especially given how much Jimmy has changed since he left in Season 13. “They had a special and close relationship, even when it was secretive and Tony didn’t want anyone to know he was seeking advice from the autopsy gremlin,” Dietzen recalls.
While it’s unclear whether we’ll see any of these (or other) characters who have come and gone over the years again, that doesn’t mean they’ve been forgotten. “I like to think that they definitely keep up, and we’ve spread a few little breadcrumbs here and there to say that we do talk with Tony or that we have heard from Abby or that I’m still referring to Abby’s Lab for Dummies book even though she’s not with our crew anymore,” Dietzen says.
And, with the CBS procedural approaching 450 episodes (on February 27) and showing no signs of slowing down, we should have plenty of time for more of the same.
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