Mark Harmon May Have Left in Season 19, But He Remains a Major Part of ‘NCIS’ Well Into Season 20
Mark Harmon said goodbye to NCIS and his character Leroy Jethro Gibbs at the beginning of season 19. After starring in more than 400 episodes, Harmon exited the series in episode 4 — “Great Wide Open” — in the fall of 2021. More than a year later, though, Harmon and his beloved character remain a major part of NCIS well into season 20.
‘NCIS’ kept Mark Harmon in the opening credits well past his exit from the series
In 2003, NCIS premiered on CBS with Harmon as the leading man. In the pilot episode, he was the first person introduced in the series’ opening credits — and he ended up staying there well past his exit from the series.
Even though Harmon left four episodes into the season, NCIS decided to keep him in the credits until the season 19 finale. CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl told TV Line that Harmon’s continued presence in the opening credits happened because season 19 was a “transition year.”
When Season 20 premiered, Harmon was officially gone. In his place at the top of the credits was Sean Murray as Agent Tim McGee — one of the three remaining cast members who made an appearance in season 1 (the other two are David McCallum as Dr. Ducky Mallard and Brian Dietzen as Jimmy Palmer).
He’s followed by Wilmer Valderrama (Torres), Katrina Law (Knight), Dietzen, Diona Reasonover (Kasie), McCallum, Rocky Carroll (Vance), and Gary Cole (Parker).
Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs is still a major part of ‘NCIS’ well into season 20
Even though they have removed Harmon from the NCIS opening credits, he still remains a major part of the series well into season 20. In the fall finale, McGee revived his long-running hobby as a writer and referenced the central character of his story, Agent Tibbs, who was clearly based on his former boss.
McGee also mentioned that Gibbs was in Alaska — which is where fans last saw him — as did his wife Delilah (Margo Harshman).
“(You’ve) barely written a word since Gibbs left for Alaska. Gibbs is not what makes you great,” Delilah said.
Also getting in on the action was Agent Knight, who entered the series just a couple of episodes before Gibbs’ exit. She asked McGee, “Your lead character’s name is Special Agent Tibbs?”
He replied, “Gibbs and Tibbs are wildly different people. Novel’s going great, I’m just having some trouble getting started. LJ Tibbs is retired, remember? So I have a new main character I think fans will love just as much as I do.”
Gibbs got another mention in the crossover event
The Gibbs’ references didn’t stop after the NCIS Season 20 fall finale. During the recent NCIS crossover event — which saw the teams of NCIS, NCIS: Hawai’i, and NCIS: Los Angeles come together for a FLETC professor’s retirement party — his name was mentioned several times.
The professor that the teams came together to celebrate ended up dead. McGee had just had lunch with him and said the professor was happy the last time he saw him. To which Torres replied, “happy, like Gibbs is in Alaska?”
That’s when Knight assumed that Gibbs knew the professor and asked, “Any chance of Gibbs showing up to the party?” McGee replied, “The professor did mention that Gibbs and him went on a few fishing trips back in the day.”
Later in the episode, Torres brought up Gibbs’ rule number three, “Always double-check.” To which McGee said, “You don’t have to quote Gibbs’ rules to me, he and I go way back.”
When the case later led the agents to Gibbs’ cabin, and someone started shooting at them, Knight asked, “Think Gibbs came back from Alaska and doesn’t know it’s us?” In response, Torres firmly said, “No. If it was Gibbs shooting at us, we’d be dead right now.”
NCIS airs Monday nights on CBS.
