Rocky Carroll Confirms His Personal Relationship With Mark Harmon Impacted Their NCIS Storylines

Harmon’s leaving NCIS shook up the show in a way it never had been ever before. Fans were absolutely devastated at the news. After Gibbs’ final episode, they took to Twitter and shared their heartbreak with the writers and producers. One wrote, “NCIS will never be the same without Gibbs.”

Some others, however, took it further, and declared on social media that they’d simply never watch the show again. One displeased person tweeted, “I’ve seen every single episode. I’ve seen people come and go, from Kate, Ziva, Tony, Abby and even Bishop, but NCIS is Gibbs. He goes, I go.”

But fans lucked out in one respect: despite NCIS being a very death-heavy show, Gibbs didn’t die. Instead, he simply retired. In the season 19 episode, titled “Great Wide Open,” he solved an important case in Alaska and decided to stay there, saying he had found a “sense of peace.”

Gibbs’ retirement had actually been in motion for a while, if you look back over the show. In the March 2021 episode “Watchdog,” Gibbs was suspended by Carroll’s character Director Vance after he killed the leader of a dogfighting ring. Plenty of viewers suspected that was the beginning of the end.

At the time, the website TV Insider wrote, “Could the next however-many-number of episodes be to test how NCIS might do without Gibbs, whether for the short term, half a season (if Harmon only returns for part of next year), or even longer? While it’s nearly impossible to imagine the procedural without Gibbs (or Harmon), we’re sadly facing the possibility that it may happen.”

And happen it did: Gibbs was done. Vance offered to give him his badge back, but Gibbs didn’t take it. The two of them shared an emotional goodbye, which was only appropriate considering all their characters had been through, and then Gibbs went to experience his new life in Alaska.

The Gibbs-Vance relationship was always an interesting one. In a 2009 interview with the website HuffPost, Carroll said of the two of them, “There’s such a tension between the characters. They’re so mano a mano, and at any time the wheels could come off in regards to them being civil to each other.”

But the characters share a connection, too. In one 2013 episode, Vance had to navigate the death of his murdered wife Jackie and the secrets she’d left behind. Just before it aired, Carroll talked to newspaper The State Journal-Register about that storyline and how Gibbs’ own backstory figured into it.

Carroll mused, “I think not only will Vance have to come to some resolutions about his own life and his own scenario, but I think it’s also going to give him a much deeper understanding about Gibbs and what Gibbs has experienced and how he has lived his life since losing his family.”

In the same interview, Carroll spoke about the show’s need to change. He said, “What we’ve done with this episode is really kind of put that solid ten-year relationship between this show and its audience to the test… The thing that kills even a successful show is routine and boredom, and you’ve got to shake things up.”

Well, Harmon’s leaving certainly achieved that. Fans still wonder if he might be back, though. The current showrunner of NCIS, Steve Binder, did release a statement after Gibbs’ final episode that implied that might be the case. It began, “As an executive producer and dear friend, Mark continues to be an integral part of the fabric of the show.”

Binder went on, “Our north star has always been staying true to our characters, and that truth has always guided the stories we tell and where those characters go. So regarding the future of Gibbs, as long-time fans of the show may have noticed over the years… never count Leroy Jethro Gibbs out.”

But why, exactly, did Harmon leave in the first place? Well, some outlets have reported that Harmon’s contract actually expired at the end of season 18. But, after some hard negotiations, network executives convinced him to return for a few episodes of season 19… and threatened to cancel the whole show if he didn’t.

Harmon himself hasn’t spoken about his exit or confirmed that rumor as true. However, it’s worth pointing out that NCIS has a pretty grueling production schedule — so grueling that other stars have outright quit over it. Harmon is 70 years old now, which is the age where you might want to retire instead of doing long hours on a set.

One of the stars who found the long hours too much was Sasha Alexander, who played Caitlin Todd. You might remember Agent Todd’s sudden, shocking death in season two of the show. It all happened because Alexander asked to be let out of her six-year contract, and got her wish.

At the time, it was reported that Alexander simply had a desire to get involved with other projects. But she told TV Guide magazine 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.”

Another person who couldn’t stand the long working hours was Michael Weatherly, who played Tony DiNozzo straight from the very first season. In 2016 he told The Hollywood Reporter magazine, “I was burnt out by NCIS and I was ready for a new challenge. Sometimes change is as good as a rest.”

Unfortunately, the other rumors about the NCIS set conditions involve Harmon himself. Fans of the show may know this incident inside out by now: in 2016 Mark Harmon brought his pet dog to set and it allegedly bit a still unidentified crew member. This, as it turned out, permanently ruined his relationship with one of his co-stars, Pauley Perrette.

Allegedly, Harmon kept bringing his dog to work ever after the incident. And then, according to a 2018 Vanity Fair article, “… some members of the NCIS cast and crew were uncomfortable with Harmon’s dog returning to the set but were reluctant to confront Harmon… Perrette, however, had the power to say something, thanks to her status as the show’s most beloved character, Abby Sciuto.”

We don’t know exactly what happened when Perrette confronted Harmon, but it seemingly completely destroyed their working relationship. Later, sources told the media that the pair disliked each other so intently they no longer filmed scenes together. If their characters were both in a scene, they filmed on separate days.

After that — and after she too left the show — Perrette made some posts on Twitter where she seemed to point a finger at Harmon, while keeping everything vague. In May 2018 she wrote, “There is a ‘machine’ keeping me silent, and feeding FALSE stories about me. A very rich, very powerful publicity ‘machine.’”

Perrette went on, “No morals, no obligation to truth, and I’m just left here, reading the lies, trying to protect my crew. Trying to remain calm. He did it.” And although she didn’t outright state who the “he” was, everyone was pretty sure she was referring to Harmon. CBS got involved then.

CBS released a statement which read, “Pauley Perrette had a terrific run on NCIS and we are all going to miss her. Over a year ago, Pauley came to us with a workplace concern. We took the matter seriously and worked with her to find a resolution. We are committed to a safe work environment on all our shows.”

But not all the NCIS cast feel the same way as Perrette. Rocky Carroll certainly doesn’t — in fact, he’s been friends with Harmon for a long while now. They actually knew each other before NCIS started, even. It was through another CBS show. Carroll explained all to CBS News in May 2021.

Carroll said, regarding his entry into NCIS, “I was pretty fortunate because I had a pretty long relationship with CBS before NCIS came on my radar. I had worked on several CBS shows. Mark Harmon and I actually met on Chicago Hope back in the ’90s. We were both members of the cast of Chicago Hope for three seasons.”

On Chicago Hope, Harmon played Jack McNeil and Carroll played Keith Wilkes. Harmon was well established as a leading man at that point, having played another doctor in the hit show St. Elsewhere. But Chicago Hope was Carroll’s first big role — and, thanks to Harmon, it helped him get on NCIS.

Carroll told CBS that after leaving Chicago Hope, “The next time I saw [Harmon] was during the end of season five of NCIS. My audition had less to do with me auditioning and more to do with Mark Harmon saying ‘I know this guy, I like him, you should hire him.’”

And the rest is, of course, television history. Carroll went on in the interview, “The writers gave me a lot of leeway with regard to [my character]. Having had a relationship with Mark Harmon prior to that was a huge help as well. We just have fun going back and forth.”

That’s not the first time Carroll has talked about his friendship with Mark Harmon. In 2009 he was asked by HuffPost, “So how nice has it been to work with Mark Harmon again?” and he answered, “We have a really good time.” That wasn’t all he had to say, though.

Carroll told the website, “… if people really knew how much fun we had playing opposite each other, they wouldn’t take us seriously. I think when you really get along and you really appreciate each other, it’s easy to get adversarial on screen. There’s a level of trust there. It’s great.”

Carroll went on, “Mark is the ultimate collaborator. He really is a quarterback. He was one in college... he has such a great inquisitive sort of personality. It makes him very easy to work with. He’s one of those people in my business that I really appreciate.” That was high praise indeed.

And in a 2018 interview with Closer Weekly magazine, Carroll refuted the rumors that Harmon had made life on set difficult. He said, “Mark’s very sensitive to the people around him. The reason it’s such a great working atmosphere is he wouldn’t have it any other way. You can just tell the kind of upbringing he had.”

So, bearing in mind he has a lot of friends on the set, will Harmon ever return to NCIS? Some people in the know seem to think it’s possible. After all, Harmon still actually has an executive producer credit on the show, which means he can help choose whatever direction it goes in next.

Sean Murray, aka Timothy McGee, told the website Parade in May 2022, “He does pop in. I saw him two weeks ago actually. So, he’s around. It’s not like he’s packed up and left town or anything… I really, truly believe that Gibbs could pop up somewhere. I really believe that there’s a possibility of that happening.”

And more recent episodes have even hinted slightly that one day Gibbs will be back. In the episode “Pledge of Allegiance,” Vance revealed that Gibbs had set up a college fund for his fellow agents’ kids. And he told them that “hopefully” one day they could thank him in person, too.

But what about Vance himself, and Carroll? The actor has some thoughts about where he stands on the show. In a 2010 interview with Entertainment Weekly he said, “I always like to say my character is kinda like the stepdad. It’s like your mother remarries, and she brings in this guy and says, ‘Kids, I want you to meet your new father.’”

But of course Harmon was the “dad” of the show back then. Carroll said, “Some people were welcoming of it, some people said, ‘We’ll give him a shot and see’… The best thing you can hope for from an audience is an honest, visceral response. There is no right or wrong answer, you’re gonna respond the way you respond [to a character].”

And luckily audiences responded very well to Vance and Carroll. Carroll said, “But this character clicked, no matter who you put him with. Vance and Gibbs, they have a great chemistry.” And now, several more seasons down the line, there seems to be no sign of Carroll leaving the show.

But fans of the Vance and Gibbs chemistry might be in for a surprise in the future, who knows? NCIS was renewed for a 20th season in March 2022, and that got people talking. It’s not out of the question that Harmon could return for a couple of guest appearances and Gibbs could re-meet his old friends. Watch this space…