It’s not uncommon for a fairly dramatic and dark procedural show to have a comedic relief character who ends up being a fan favorite. For NCIS, it was always Abby Sciuto, played by Pauley Perrette. Although she wasn’t always funny and bubbly, her style and unusual outlook on life set her apart from the other agents.
Her departure from the show came as a shocking surprise to many viewers, but the reason behind it is even more bizarre than you might have imagined.
In a recent group interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the show’s executive producer, Charles Floyd Johnson, brought up the actress’ departure as the production team remembered the important moments in the show’s history and all the milestones it had achieved.
“In Pauley Perrette’s case, there was a dog-related incident on the show. The dog probably bit someone; it belonged to Harmon. Pauley was a great advocate for SPCA animals. Harmon’s dog started following them, and she decided it wasn’t safe for the show at that point. She simply felt like it wasn’t working for her any longer towards the end of that year,” he said.
As unfortunate as it is, the crew at the time seemed more concerned about the dog’s presence on the set than the departure of the beloved character. Of course, the decision to let Abby Sciuto go wasn’t popular with the fandom, so fans were eager to get the actress back.
Perrette, on the other hand, seemed very much done with both NCIS as a whole and the idea of Abby’s comeback. She also threw a lot of shade at her former co-star Mark Harmon on social media.
“NO I AM NOT COMING BACK! EVER! (Please stop asking?) I am terrified of Harmon and him attacking me. I have nightmares about it,” she said on X.
The good news is that there are enough Pauley Perrette-starring NCIS episodes to go back to whenever you miss Abby. The actress appeared in a few episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans in addition to 352 episodes of the original series.
And if you want to see what Pauley Perrette has been up to since then, you can stream the CBS series Broke on the CBS website or Amazon Prime Video.