Why Mark Harmon Never Wanted to Know Where ‘NCIS’ Was Going
NCIS has often kept fans on the edge of their seats with plenty of twists and turns. But the show’s lead actor Mark Harmon never wanted to know what the series had in store for him too early.
Mark Harmon never asked where ‘NCIS’ is going
Harmon played NCIS lead Jethro Gibbs since 2003. But it was only fairly recently that the actor started really getting to know his character. The veteran commended the writers for keeping Gibbs fresh and engaging, which maintained Harmon’s excitement for the procedural.
Speaking with TV Guide (via TV Fanatic), Harmon further praised the writers on their ability to add more layers to the cast’s roles. Often, both the scriptwriters and the actors would find out something about their characters that they didn’t know.
Harmon seemed to enjoy this kind of spontaneous storytelling, and tried to avoid questioning the writers about NCIS’ direction.
“I never have asked. To me it’s kind of like backloading it. It’s kind of like trying to work in reverse, maybe. I don’t know, I’ve never done that here. I don’t know how they’d respond, anyway. But I really don’t want to know,” he said.
What Mark Harmon found interesting about how Gibbs fit into ‘NCIS’
Harmon’s Gibbs had an intriguing relationship with the rest of his NCIS team. The retired agent was written as more introverted than his younger co-workers, adding to his mystique.
“It’s interesting how he fits into the ensemble since most of the other characters are highly verbal and Gibbs stands in stark contrast to that. You sometimes get the feeling that Gibbs is a guy who almost wishes he could join in the mirth, or that he has a slight air of mischief about him that, as the leader, he feels he can never really afford to exercise too much,” he said.
He also touched on how satisfied everyone was with their roles, which Harmon considered a rarity in his line of work.
“All of us here signed on to play specific characters. I’ve never been part of an ensemble like this where everybody’s just so happy playing the role they’re playing. You can’t write Abby lines for Gibbs, and you can’t write Gibbs lines for DiNozzo, and you can’t write DiNozzo quotes for McGee, and you can’t write Ziva lines for anybody. Everybody is personally driven by the characters we all play here,” he said.
Mark Harmon shared when he knew it’d be time to leave the show
Harmon may not have been interested in knowing where NCIS was going, but he foresaw the show running for a long time. Still, the actor felt he’d be able to tell when it was time for the series to come to an end.
“Now, if I ever witness them walking into the writers’ room with their heads down, feeling they’ve done it all, that would be the time to say, ‘I think I’m done here.’ But there is still a real feeling of creativity and a sense of reinvention on our set,” Harmon said.
Harmon left NCIS not too long ago back in 2021. But his exit from the long-running series wasn’t because of a lack of creativity. On The Kelly Clarkson Show, he opened up about the reasons behind his decision.
“I think, for the longest time, I was just tired,” Harmon said. “Part of taking the job [involved] being home, with a young family, not traveling so much doing movies. The first day, we worked 22 hours. So I thought, ‘That’s not exactly what I thought this was going to be.’ But we had a lot of days like that in the first four years.”
