NCIS fans are getting fresh insight into one of the show’s most emotional behind-the-scenes transitions after Sean Murray opened up about Mark Harmon’s departure and what happened when Gary Cole joined the cast. For many longtime viewers, Harmon’s exit felt like the end of an era, raising major questions about whether the beloved series could ever regain its rhythm without Gibbs at the center. Now, Sean is reflecting on the emotional adjustment, the cast dynamic changes, and how Gary Cole stepped into an incredibly difficult situation. One surprising detail from Sean’s comments, however, is what many fans say finally explains why the show still works after such a major shake-up. See more below👇👇👇

We may be between seasons of NCIS right now, but fans are still getting content about the show, thanks to the weekly podcast. Series stars Brian Dietzen and Diona Reasonover host NCIS: Partners & Probies, and the longest-running cast member across the franchise, Sean Murray, appeared in the Tuesday, June 2, episode.

Reasonover brought up how long Murray had been on the show and the changes he’d seen, with cast exits. She asked, “Is the fans why you are able to continue doing this? Is it just the love of the character?”

Murray explained it’s all of it. “We’ve been so fortunate with the different iterations of cast that we’ve had come through, too. I mean, I remember when Mark [Harmon] was kind of getting ready for Gibbs to appear less and less,” he said.

Harmon exited in NCIS Season 19, with Gibbs staying in Alaska, where he remains to this day. He hasn’t returned to NCIS but he has appeared on the prequel, Origins, including in the crossover. He also narrates every episode of that series, which takes a look at his character’s (Austin Stowell) early days at NIS, which has, as of the Origins Season 2 finale, been rebranded to NCIS. Harmon also is an executive producer on both shows.

“I remember some of the discussions about Gary Cole joining the show, and I remember getting the phone call about, ‘OK, so Gary’s the guy,’ and I remember feeling like, ‘Yeah, thank God. Thank God,’” Murray recalled on the podcast. “Because we have real stuff to work like in a big way there.” He also remembered having worked with Cole on a movie of the week at the age of 19 in 1996. “I couldn’t remember the name of it and he remembered it was called For My Daughter’s Honor.”

Murray also worked with Harmon previously to starring together on NCIS, in the early ’90s series Harts of the West, when he was 15. He worked with horses, Murray said, on the western that they filmed in Santa Clarita near where they shoot NCIS.

Gibbs did end up playing an important role during NCIS Season 23: Parker (Cole) called on him for his skills as a sniper to help take out one of the men responsible for Director Leon Vance’s (Rocky Carroll) death. “Maybe if you gave me one hand to choose the things I’m most proud of on this series, that’s going to be on the hand for sure,” executive producer Steven D. Binder told TV Insider.

“One of the things we’ve resisted doing is placing him in any specific area or job or location. I know Origins has done that to some degree, but you don’t necessarily know what time when that storytelling’s occurring,” he explained.

He continued, “We’ve been specifically avoiding Gibbs because I’ve always felt that Gibbs is a larger-than-life kind of guy, and you almost imagine he’s transitioned to another plane of existence. I don’t want to think of Gibbs living in an apartment in Anchorage. I want to think of him permanently in the woods, fishing, however that works. So I’ve been very careful about when we bring him back, if we were to bring him back in any way, that we don’t burst that bubble and we continue letting him be this larger-than-life character.”

What was also important was that “it had to be worthy,” Binder added. “It had to be worthy for Gibbs to come back. And what happened in the penultimate episode, I think, is about as worthy as it gets: protecting his family.”

NCIS, Season 24, Fall 2026, Tuesdays, 8/7c, CBS