This Is Why Cote de Pablo And So Many Other Stars Left NCIS

Before she starred as medical examiner Maura Isles on seven seasons of TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles, Sasha Alexander was one of the original stars of NCIS. In fact, the latter show’s 2003 pilot episode was based around Alexander’s character Caitlin Todd joining the NCIS team. But in a move that shocked fans, she walked away from the show after only two seasons.

Both Alexander and show co-creator Donald Bellisario were honest about the reason for her departure. Bellisario told the Chicago Tribune in 2005, “I had already started writing the last episode of the season and was getting ready to go to Australia to take a little break. [Alexander] came in two days before I was [due] to leave, and with tears in her eyes, she said, ‘I just can’t work this hard.’”

The grueling schedule of a network TV show was simply too much for Alexander, and she decided to get out. The star told TV Guide in 2012, “People don’t realize that on a network show you make 24 episodes a year — that’s ten and a half months a year, 17 hours a day. It’s hardcore.”

Bellisario understood Alexander’s predicament, as NCIS is a difficult show to make and a huge commitment for its actors. To his credit, even though she was under contract to CBS, he went to the higher-ups and encouraged them to release her. Bellisario told the Chicago Tribune, “You don’t want to force someone to work when she says this is not what she expected it to be.”

In 2011 Zoe McLellan joined the cast of NCIS for season 11. Her character Meredith “Merri” Brody would then go on to become one of the leads of spinoff NCIS: New Orleans. Unfortunately, in 2016 after two seasons, McLellan left the show. Why? Well, TVLine reported that she’d departed due to a “creative decision.” But there was more to it than that.

Over the years that followed, it became increasingly likely this wasn’t the real reason McLellan left the show. In January 2019 former showrunner Jeffrey Lieber claimed to Vulture that he’d been put under huge pressure from people above him to fire McLellan. Lieber added that he was confused about why the executives had wanted her gone.

“I thought [McLellan] was doing a good job and that the audience was connected to her, especially because testing bore that out,” Lieber said. To him, the reason for any bad feeling had to be a fault on his part. Perhaps CBS wasn’t happy with how her character was being portrayed? He responded by writing Brody a compelling backstory in several well-received episodes. But the pressure remained.

Lieber then alleged one higher-up confessed to him that CBS chairman Les Moonves didn’t find McLellan attractive, and that was why he wanted her fired. Lieber eventually left the show and was replaced by Brad Kern, who allegedly also said inappropriate things about McLellan before writing her out of the show. Perhaps fittingly, Kern was himself fired a few years later for apparent misconduct toward various women who worked on NCIS.

English actor Duane Henry was put on the map after being cast as Clayton Reeves in NCIS. When he started the role, the actor was so new to L.A. that he couch surfed, as he had no place of his own to live. He revealed to TVLine that when co-star Pauley Perrette heard this, she stepped in and organized for him to stay in one of her houses! But let’s hope he didn’t get too comfortable in La-La Land.

Henry’s character was killed off after two seasons on the show — and, rather fittingly, he sacrificed his life to save Perrette’s character, Abby. Henry told TVLine that “to be wrapping up with her was incredible, a dream come true for anyone.” He was also extremely happy with the heroic exit that was written for Reeves.

Overall, leaving the show was an emotional experience for Henry, even though it was something he’d had an inkling about for quite some time. You see, Reeves had been created by showrunner Gary Glasberg, but when he tragically died, the character fell into a state of limbo. Henry explained that “when [Glasberg] passed, I was feeling a bit of panic in people’s faces.”

Henry got the distinct impression that nobody really knew what was in store for the Reeves character. So, the young actor adjusted his thinking to prepare for the worst. He admitted, “I kind of got my bearings together and thought, ‘What’s going to happen now with the character?’ I live in a world called ‘You Never Know,’ so I’m always prepared for everything.”

Lauren Holly was a series regular on NCIS for three seasons between 2005 and 2008. She played Jenny Shepherd, director of the eponymous agency. According to Holly in a post on her website, the role was originally only intended to be a short six-episode stint. She was perfectly happy with this, as it meant the actress could still spend plenty of time with her family.

Then, when the decision was made to keep her on the show as a regular, she moved her family from Chicago to L.A. Holly did this for two years, but eventually, her experience turned somewhat sour. The star said that even though she enjoyed her time on the show and made some great friends, she was upset when there was a seismic shift in the creative team.

Holly wrote on her website, “I was saddened that Don Bellisario was forced out, and I missed him a lot.” This was a reference to behind-the-scenes turmoil on the show. There were rumors that Bellisario and the show’s star Mark Harmon didn’t get along, and it reportedly led to a standoff that ended in Bellisario’s resignation as a showrunner.

On top of this, Holly admitted that her role had left her feeling creatively uninspired. She confessed, “To be honest, now that the work bug had bitten me again, I got bored with my part of the ‘Director.’” Therefore, when word came down that the character was to be killed off, Holly wasn’t exactly too broken up about it.

Cote de Pablo played Ziva David for eight seasons of NCIS but left under a cloud in 2013. And she kept folks in the dark about the reason for her departure. She told TV Guide that year, “As far as my decision to leave, that’s a personal thing, and I’d rather leave it at that.” The character wasn’t killed off, though, which meant fans always held out hope that she could return.

Yet the plot thickened in 2016 when de Pablo got candid during a Q&A at Babson College. She said, “Look, I love this character. I worked eight years crafting this character and loving her. And so, when I felt or I perceived that the character was not being treated with the respect that she deserved, no money in the world [would make me stay].”

“They were going to send her back to Israel and make her an unfortunate, miserable woman,” de Pablo went on. “And I didn’t think it was fair. So I said, ‘Unless someone can really write something fantastic for her, I won’t go back.’” Three years later, this came to pass, as de Pablo did return to the series for a short arc.

Strangely, though, de Pablo then argued to USA Today that her 2016 comments were taken out of context. She said, “I’m not ready to talk about that yet. I will someday. But I didn’t leave because I wanted to go or because I was ready or because I was tired. I didn’t really have an option.” In the end, then, the whole situation is about as clear as mud!

For seven seasons, veteran actor Miguel Ferrer played Assistant Director Owen Granger on NCIS: Los Angeles. The star continued playing the character until 2017 when he tragically died from throat cancer. His illness was actually incorporated into the show, with Granger depicted as suffering from an unnamed disease brought on by his smoking.

The show’s executive producer R. Scott Gemmill was interviewed by CBS about Ferrer. And he was full of praise about him, saying the actor would attend script reads for episodes he didn’t even have any lines in. Gemmill said, “The most important thing to [Ferrer] was working. He loved the craft and he kept working all the time — even when we didn’t want him to work.”

Star Chris O’Donnell told CBS that he believed the program was super-important to Ferrer in his final years. He said, “I think the show was kind of keeping him alive for a while there because it gave him something to look forward to. But he was coming here, and it got to the point where he couldn’t even speak, and they were trying to work around that.”

It was a cruel twist of fate for an actor known for the gravitas in his voice, but Ferrer still fought to be able to act until his dying day. Producer Frank Military said, “One of the beautiful parts of his instrument was his voice. And that’s what was affected.” He poignantly added, “[Ferrer] was an actor, and that’s what he was going to do until the end. He was going to act.”

Perhaps the most controversial of all the NCIS cast exits came when Pauley Perrette left the show in 2018 after 15 seasons playing forensics expert Abigail Sciuto. The situation turned ugly when TheWrap reported on alleged tensions on set between Perrette and co-star Mark Harmon. It even claimed that the two actors’ shooting schedules had to be completely separated!

The spat between Harmon and Perrette apparently stemmed from an incident in 2016 in which Harmon’s dog bit a crew member. The attack allegedly resulted in the victim needing 15 stitches. Perrette objected vehemently to the dog being allowed back on the set because its presence made a number of the cast and crew uncomfortable, and she wasn’t afraid to voice these concerns.

Things got even worse in 2019 when Perrette alleged that Harmon had “body checked her on set in 2017,” according to TMZ. She even tweeted, “I am terrified of Harmon and him attacking me. I have nightmares about it.” The actress was firm when she told fans she would never, ever return to the show — specifically due to her fear of Harmon. And she took things even further in the tweets that followed.

The actress stated that she was aware of the industry fallout over speaking up about Harmon. And she alleged, “This happened to my crew member, and I fought like hell to keep it from happening again. To protect my crew. And then I was physically assaulted for saying ‘no,’ and I lost my job.”

The life of an actor on a TV show — especially one like NCIS — can be fraught with anxiety. The possibility of your character being killed off or written out of the show is always there in the background. As star Daniela Ruah told TVGuide.com in 2010, “You never know who’s going to stay and who’s going to go.” She added, “For [the cast], it can be a little scary here and there.”

Unfortunately for actor Adam Jamal Craig, this is exactly what happened to him during the first season of spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles. His character — rookie agent Dominic Vail — first went missing in action when he was mysteriously kidnapped. When his team came to the rescue, an ensuing battle left him dead in a hail of gunfire. All told, he only appeared in 13 episodes of the show.

Executive producer Shane Brennan told Entertainment Weekly in 2010 that it was purely a creative decision designed to keep the audience on their toes. He said, “I’m a great believer in playing with the audience’s expectations.” Brennan went on, “I want them to know that nothing is sacred. And the cast is aware that this is the game I play. No one’s safe.”

Craig took the decision well, which is admirable considering he was losing his job. The actor told Entertainment Weekly in an email, “I had big hopes for Agent Vail, so, naturally, it took me by surprise. But I have complete trust and respect in [Brennan’s] vision for the characters and the world he created.” Overall, it was a very classy response to the situation!

In January 2016 Michael Weatherly made a bombshell announcement on his Twitter page. He revealed that after 13 long years he was leaving NCIS and his character Tony DiNozzo behind. The actor tweeted, “DiNozzo is a wonderful, quixotic character, and I couldn’t have had more fun playing him over the past 13 seasons.” But why was he leaving?

Weatherly’s final episode aired in May of that year, and by August he was already on the promotional trail for Bull — his new CBS drama. During a panel at the Television Critics Association’s press tour, Weatherly unveiled why he felt it was the right time to leave. With great honesty, he said, “I was burnt out by NCIS, and I was ready for a new challenge.”

Weatherly also explained why he was able to immediately sign up to a new network show — despite feeling tired. The actor admitted, “Sometimes change is as good as rest.” Overall, Weatherly was incredibly pleased with his tenure on NCIS and felt that the DiNozzo character had done everything he could possibly do.

“It really felt like a circle that had gone all the way around, and I really felt happy with the resolution of character and my time on the show,” Weatherly concluded. In the end, it was CBS’ desire to keep the star on the network that led it to offer him Bull. As executive producer Paul Attanasio said, “There is nothing in entertainment like a star in a star part.”

Lucas Black debuted as Agent Christopher LaSalle in NCIS before becoming one of the stars of NCIS: New Orleans. In total, he starred in 142 episodes of the franchise and firmly established himself as a fan favorite during that time. Fans were clearly shocked and saddened, then, when the character died during season six. Though why was Black written out?

In a video posted to the show’s official Twitter page, Black revealed, “This show has been so good to me over the years — exceeding my expectations and goals. But this job isn’t easy for me; there are a lot of priorities in my life that get sacrificed for me to be here. But it’s time for me to focus on those priorities in my life.”

In essence, Black wanted to spend more time with his wife and kids. But he was very grateful to the fans who had supported him during his stint. “You were there to celebrate the victories and to pick me up when I needed it, and I appreciate that,” he wrote on his Instagram account in 2019.

Interestingly though, Newsweek theorized that Black had left because he was returning to the Fast & Furious franchise in a big way. He’d starred in the third movie before returning for a cameo in the seventh. After leaving the show, Black was confirmed to be in the ninth instalment, but he admitted on a podcast that his NCIS schedule had prevented him from appearing in the eighth movie.