‘NCIS’ Cast’s Veterans and (Relative) Newbies Compare Notes on the Mothership’s Endurance, as Franchise Reaches a Staggering 1,000 Episodes
15.04.2024 - 22:21
/ variety.com
Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic With the April 15 episode of “NCIS” on CBS, the overall franchise — including its multiple spinoffs — clocks its 1,000th episode. That’s a milestone for all of the associated series, but the mothership show accounts for nearly half of those, and is edging ever closer to its own once-unfathomable benchmark: “NCIS” O.G.
is at 463 episodes and counting, with the 500-show mark hardly out of reach, especially now that the show has just been renewed for its 22nd season. There’s no end in sight, with the top-rated drama series having proven its ability to withstand cast changes, such as the loss of Mark Harmon, the show’s original team leader, in 2021.
(Gary Cole tagged in as Harmon was departing during Season 19.) And yet, if there were a complete and total turnover, fans’ loyalty might not still be the same. Although there’s no cast member left from the show’s premiere back in 2003, it has two who were extremely close to the origin point, in Sean Murray and Brian Dietzen, who had recurring characters during the first season before becoming series regulars.
And Rocky Carroll goes back to Season 5 — several lifetimes ago in network TV time. Not to mention, “NCIS” benefits greatly from the infusion of new blood, in “recent” additions like Katrina Law (who joined in the 18th season) and Diona Reasonover (who came in in Season 16).
To celebrate the franchise’s 1,000th episode, as the cast was leaving for hiatus after wrapping up Season 21, Variety gathered together two of those longest-standing cast members, Murray and Carroll, and two of the newest regulars, Law and Reasonover, for a discussion about the vein of immortality they’ve apparently tapped into. For all of you,
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