Ever wondered why Special Agent Kate Todd was killed off NCIS after just two seasons? Actress Sasha Alexander recently opened up about her decision to leave the show.
“I had done a few shows before NCIS but none as challenging,” Alexander said during an episode of “Off Duty” An NCIS Rewatch Podcast,” hosted by former stars Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo.
She added, “We didn’t have full scripts early on, we had acts.”
Weatherly agreed, calling the early behind-the-scenes situation at NCIS “a mess,” with constant script changes and demanding shooting schedules for the lead actors.
“I think before NCIS, the shows that I did somehow had more of a balance; like, they were either true ensembles,” Alexander continued. “I mean normally, if you’re like a one or two [on the call sheet], like RIZZOLI AND ISLES, I worked all the time. But there were moments where we could throw the ball back and forth to each other. NCIS, Mark, Michael, and I — and you [de Pablo] later — were in every single scene.”
NCIS co-creator Donald P. Bellisario has also talked about Alexander’s choice to leave the show, telling the Chicago Tribune, “Sasha came in…with tears in her eyes, she said, ‘I just can’t work this hard.’”
“We work very long hours, and Sasha just didn’t feel she was physically up to that kind of time and commitment,” Bellisario added. “Although we had her under contract, I went to CBS and said, ‘You don’t want to force someone to work when she says this is not what she expected it to be.’ I think it was just more than she realized.”
Alexander has no regrets about her decision to leave NCIS, though.
In a 2012 interview with TV Guide, she explained, “People don’t realize that on a network show, you make 24 episodes a year — that’s 10½ months a year, 17 hours a day. It’s hard core.”
“I really firmly believe in my heart that I would not be where I am today — happily married, with two kids, doing things creatively that I want — if I had stayed,” she continued. “I didn’t want to wake up and be in my forties and go, ‘Oh, my gosh!’ But people don’t understand.”