‘NCIS’ Boss Explains Why [Spoiler] Had to Die in the 500th Episode
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for the March 24 episode of NCIS.]
That was a death we didn’t see coming.
The 500th episode of NCIS aired Tuesday on CBS, and for the landmark installment, the long-running procedural decided to do something truly shocking: kill off a major character.
Vance dies in the 500th episode of ‘NCIS’
In the final moments of “All Good Things,” Director Vance (Rocky Carroll) was shot and killed by a corrupt agent. Carroll has been with NCIS since 2008, joining the show midway through season 5.
The dramatic twist left fans stunned. Executive producer Steven D. Binder explained the sure-to-be-controversial decision to kill off Vance in an interview with TV Insider.
“On the one hand, NCIS is a quirky character-based procedural. But on the other hand, there have always been real stakes, perhaps as best embodied by what happened to Agent Todd [Sasha Alexander] in the season 2 finale,” he said. “It is never easy to say goodbye to any of our characters, but we wanted to honor Rocky and his legacy on the show as best as we could — in this case, giving his life so his agency could live.” (Earlier in the episode, the Department of Defense attempted to shut down NCIS, but Vance stepped up to save the agency.)
Vance’s death will affect the entire team going forward, Binder said. But they aren’t going to let his loss distract them from what they are meant to do.
“The team will be grieving, of course,” he explained. “But we felt it important that, at the end of the episode, the team is just as focused on Vance’s sacrifice as they are on their loss. Vance died to protect them all. And they are going to honor that by putting one foot in front of the other, and just continuing on their mission to protect and safeguard their country.”
Rocky Carroll weighs in on his unexpected ‘NCIS’ exit
Sometimes, major characters are written off of a show when an actor is ready to move on. (That’s what happened when Mark Harmon decided to leave NCIS in 2021.) But Carroll has said the decision to leave NCIS wasn’t his, though he respects it.
“I was not the catalyst for this happening,” the actor told TVLine, adding that Binder told him that the writers and producers wanted “to do something that really sends shockwaves through the TV community and the fan base.”
Carroll was initially shocked to hear that Vance was going to die. But he quickly came around.
“As odd as this may sound, my first thought was: “That’s a great story.” [Laughs] Nobody’s gonna see it coming. So the part of me that’s the team player was instantly like, ‘That’s a hell of a storyline. I think that’s going to be really great,’” he said.
“I say this in all sincerity: The only thing that surprised me more than being told what the story was and how it was going to impact my character was how quickly I was able to kind of come to terms with it,” he continued. “Because I’ve been playing this character for 18 seasons. 18 seasons is a lot. I feel like being a series regular on a hit show for 18 years is such an anomaly to begin with … I couldn’t have asked for more.”
While Vance is dead, Carroll’s relationship with NCIS will continue. He says he hopes to director more episodes of the JAG spinoff. And he hinted that he might appear in flashback scenes in future episodes.
“If one of the writers next season needs somebody with sage advice somewhere, you can always have a flashback where [Vance] is talking to somebody,” he said. “I might be more busy as a ghost than in real life.
NCIS is streaming on Paramount+.
For more news and exclusive interviews, follow Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s Instagram.
