Why didn’t the ‘NCIS’ creators take Mark Harmon’s name out of the opening credits as soon as he departed the program? According to the executive producer, this is why.
Fans of NCIS never wanted Leroy Jethro Gibbs, played by Mark Harmon, to leave the show. As Gibbs, Harmon was a mainstay starting in season 1. Although the television show left the door open for his potential comeback, there are currently no known intentions to do so. Oddly enough, the NCIS showrunners left Harmon’s name in the opening credits for almost a year after he abruptly left the show. This is why.
Why ‘NCIS’ didn’t remove Mark Harmon from the credit immediately
Leroy Jethro Gibbs was portrayed by Mark Harmon on NCIS for 19 seasons before he decided to retire. The character was adored by the audience, and it wasn’t certain if the program would continue without him. Additionally, it appeared that the NCIS showrunners did not want to immediately say goodbye to Gibbs. Harmon was taken out of the show’s opening credits after 11 months.
Fans probably recall how Gibbs was left off the show. Gibbs decided to stay in Naktok Bay, Alaska, and abandon the rest of the NCIS team in season 19 episode 4. He accepted the loss of his family, and he now appears to reside in Alaska, but, of course, he is doing so off-camera.
So, why a delay in removing Harmon from the credits? Harmon left the show at the beginning of season 19 with 17 more episodes remaining in the season. The showrunners didn’t want to change the credits midway through the season. They wanted Gibbs’ presence to remain in some way.
“Gibbs put his stamp on the team in a huge way, and it’s gonna take more than a year for that to fade,” executive producer Steven D. Binder told TV Insider. “I wouldn’t want it to fade because if I can’t have Gibbs. I still love having his presence in there.”
Additionally, Binder noted that the showrunners just didn’t want to deal with the logistics of removing Harmon from the credits at the time. “That was a function of the fact that we, although the season’s [ended] and Mark will not have appeared in any more episodes, that was not anything that was a decided thing, so he remained in the credits because we didn’t kill him,” he said. ” … It didn’t end up that way for no other reason than it was just a really difficult season and that would’ve been just another thing to do to make happen.”
Once season 20 came along, the showrunners decided to put Timothy McGee actor Sean Murray in Harmon’s spot.
Why did the Leroy Jethro Gibbs actor leave the series?
With or without Mark Harmon, NCIS fans eagerly anticipate the 2024 season, while we all wish he were still a part of the show. What makes the actor who played Leroy Jethro Gibbs decide to leave? According to executive producer Charles Floyd Johnson, other interests and advancing age took precedence.
“Coming in at 6:30 a.m. five days a week and being the major character that was the linchpin — that’s pretty tough, and he did it for 18 seasons,” Johnson explained. “He had just gotten to the place where he was getting close to turning 70 and he wanted to spend time with [wife] Pam [Dawber] and his kids. So, he was leading up to it. It started probably [with him dropping hints] around the 15th or 16th season. But he was so loyal to that crew and so supportive of the show. He was very proud of it, and he stayed on longer than he even intended.”