Michael Weatherly Knew It Was Time to Leave ‘NCIS’ After Being No. 2 for So Long
NCIS star Michael Weatherly didn’t initially mind being No. 2 to the show’s lead Mark Harmon on and off screen. But after several years, Weatherly became a bit tired of his status on the show.
How Michael Weatherly felt about being Mark Harmon’s No. 2
Weatherly’s Tony DiNozzo was a reliable second hand for Leroy Gibbs on the hit series. This dynamic was present behind the scenes as well. Harmon received top billing over Weatherly and the rest of the cast. This wouldn’t last long, however, as Weatherly would say his goodbyes to NCIS after its 15th season. His desire to explore more creative opportunities played a huge part in his departure. But Weatherly also looked forward to stepping out the shadow of being a constant number two.
“You can’t be in that No. 2 slot [on Gibbs’ team] forever,” Weatherly once told TV Line. “That started to feel constrained to me. McGee is looking at him and saying, ‘When you get out of here I want to be No. 2,’ and Gibbs is looking at him like, ‘You’re kind of hanging around. Have you got things you want to do?’ I always appreciated the gift of the job, but the hardest part of the whole experience was thinking, ‘Oh, no…. I think it’s time I have to leave.’”
After NCIS, Weatherly would get to be No. 1 on his CBS television series Bull. And he noted stark differences between being No. 1 and No. 2.
“I’ll tell you a very interesting thing,” he said in an interview with Frank Ragaine. “When you’re No. 2 or lower, you actually know more information, because people, when you’re No. 1, they don’t want you to know about things. Because, whether it’s a legal liability or it’s just they don’t want to bother you, everyone wants to keep you kind of in a bubble. And, I watched Mark fight very hard to stay out of that bubble and to try to stay integrated and stay in touch.”
Michael Weatherly felt fans got this wrong about Tony DiNozzo
Weatherly built a lot of close relationships with his NCIS co-stars over the years. So, of course he predicted he’d end up missing his NCIS family after moving on to different things. He was also emotional about leaving his character Tony DiNozzo behind.
“But the person that I really am going to miss the most in the most perverse way is Tony DiNozzo,” Weatherly said in a 2016 interview with People. “See, yes, I told you this answer was not going to be easy because he’s already gone from me a little bit.”
During his last moments with the character, it soon hit Weatherly that he’d be officially partying ways with his character. And it was a lot to take in.
“I can go through the call sheet for you but my relationship really was with this guy named Tony DiNozzo,” he said. “I spent a lot of hours with him and we’ll see if I miss him after a while, but I think I will. I liked him. He had a really great puppyish sense of fun and adventure and optimism and yes.”
He’ll reprise Tony in a spin-off series. So, it seems he didn’t have to say his goodbyes forever.
What Michael Weatherly felt fans often got wrong about Tony DiNozzo
Weatherly felt that Tony could be shortchanged by the audience every now and then. The NCIS agent was known for bringing comedy to the show with his humor and clever banter. But Tony wasn’t only the comic relief for NCIS, with Weatherly asserting he had a lot more depth than that.
“I kind of take affront when people reduce him to an ‘oafish, overgrown frat boy,’ because I think that he is a complicated and layered guy, in the sense that he gets to do all these things,” he reflected.
