NCIS just killed off a main character in the 500th episode — and the cast member opened up about how it “was not” their choice to leave the show.
During the Tuesday, March 24, episode of the hit CBS series, Rocky Carroll‘s character, Leon Vance, was shot by a CID agent. Initially, it looked like Vance was wearing a vest but he ultimately bled out from the fatal gunshot wounds.
“No, it was not my choice,” Carroll, who has been on NCIS since 2008, told TV Insider. “It was basically presented to me that the studio and the network wanted to do something really spectacular, really big, and something that would really send shockwaves through the NCIS fan base and the community.”
Carroll recalled executive producer Steven D. Binder breaking down the vision.
“Well, the agency, NCIS, as we know it, is in deep peril and is in danger of becoming extinct, of folding over into another agency because there’s a nefarious character working behind the scenes to sabotage the agency. And Director Vance figures out who it is,” he explained. “And in the process of saving the agency, he loses his life. It’s a great story. You want to hear more? And I thought, ‘Wait, let’s go back a minute. Back up to the part where you say in saving the agency, he loses his life.’”
The actor was able to understand what led to the decision, adding, “I guess the dramaturge and the director in me, after 23 years, you’ve pretty much told every story, and a lot of them you’ve told more than once. So, when it was laid all out, and when they did tell me the whole plot line and the story, my first thought, completely candidly, was, ‘It’s actually a terrific story.’”
While reflecting on his time on NCIS, Carroll said he didn’t expect to play Vance for nearly two decades.
“It’s been quite a run. And I was so proud of the episode,” he added. “There’s too much good to be depressed about it.”
NCIS sent Vance out on a high with a montage of him through the years with Gibbs (Mark Harmon), Tony (Michael Weatherly), Ziva (Cote de Pablo), Ducky (David McCallum), McGee, Abby (Pauley Perrette), Bishop (Emily Wickersham) and the current NCIS team.
“It wasn’t like, ‘Well, you’re emotional, but you can’t be that way for the episode,’” Carroll continued. “If this had happened in my third season as Director Vance, it would’ve been a much different feeling. But after 18, after my character’s lived two lifetimes basically in TV world, and I said, ‘To play a character for 18 seasons on one of the most-watched TV shows in the world is the equivalent to having lived to be 105.’ In my world, it’s like if you go to a memorial service for somebody who lived to be 105, your thought is, yeah, I’m sorry he’s gone, but I mean, geez, he lived to be 105. That’s kind of how I feel about my character.”
Binder also weighed in on the shocking shakeup.
“There have always been real stakes,” he told the outlet. “It is never easy to say goodbye to any of our characters, but we wanted to honor Rocky and his legacy on the show as best as we could — in this case, giving his life so his agency could live.”
Looking ahead, Binder promised that the team “will be grieving,” saying, “But we felt it important that, at the end of the episode, the team is just as focused on Vance’s sacrifice as they are on their loss. Vance died to protect them all. And they are going to honor that by putting one foot in front of the other, and just continuing on their mission to protect and safeguard their country.”
NCIS airs on CBS Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
