Wilmer Valderrama's Statements About Working With Mark Harmon Expose The Mood On The NCIS Set

Fans of Harmon and his NCIS character Gibbs needn’t completely despair about his departure, though. Unlike some characters, Gibbs wasn’t killed off. During his last episode, which aired October 2021, he simply opted to retire from his long career in policing. So the door’s still open for a possible return.

Gibbs’ exit in the episode called “Great Wide Open” saw him solve a case in Alaska, and then decide to quit his job and remain out there. He left the running of his department to Gary Cole’s character Alden Parker and headed off into the sunset. It was a nice, peaceful ending.

But a lot of long-time watchers weren’t happy. After the episode aired, plenty of fans turned to Twitter to share their distress. One wrote to CBS, “I don’t think you understand just how much I’m SOBBING right now! Gibbs has made an impact on so many people, and it shatters my heart to see him go.”

Still, Harmon’s departure had actually been a possibility for a few years before he left. “I’ve always thought if there’s ever a time where the writers are walking into the room and going ‘I don’t know what to do,’ then I think we all have to look at each other and call it a day,” he admitted to People magazine during 2019.

And it seemed that “I don’t know what to do” day had finally come. Or had it? After Harmon’s last episode, producer Steve Binder claimed in a statement, “As an executive producer and dear friend, Mark continues to be an integral part of the fabric of the show.”

“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,” Binder added. “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 people wondered why exactly had Harmon chosen to leave such an iconic show in the first place? Well, believe it or not, he’d wanted to leave the series before… a long time before. Back in 2007 TV Guide magazine reported that Harmon had some major problems with then-showrunner Don Bellisario.

An anonymous insider informed the magazine, “Mark’s been working every single day, 16 hours a day. Don tries to micro-manage everything. Script pages get faxed to the set at the last minute, and Mark is tired of dealing with the huge impact that makes on his life.” So what happened in the end? Bellisario resigned from his position.

Bellisario was naturally unhappy about what’d gone down. He claimed to the Los Angeles Times in 2008, “I asked Mark to re-shoot a scene. He redid it exactly the same way he did it the first time and never spoke to me again.” Bellisario also accused him of running a “full-blown PR campaign” about the supposed on-set issues.

Harmon shot back at Bellisario in the same article, saying, “If we’re working 14-hour days now instead of the 17- or 18-hour days that we were doing, it doesn’t mean we’re working any less hard.” He also pointedly added, “I don’t wish to go head to head with Bellisario in the press… He knows why he left.”

The other actors appeared to take Harmon’s side. David McCallum told the Digital Spy website in 2014, “After a couple of years, we got to the point where we were getting scripts late from [Bellisario]. There was a little problem between Mark Harmon — who was representing the cast and crew — and Don, so CBS decided that Don would leave us.”

And the “16 hours a day” workload did seem to have been a pretty common complaint on the NCIS set in those days. For instance, the character of Caitlin Todd was killed off for that very reason: the actress who played her, Sasha Alexander, hated the long hours. Alexander told TV Guide in 2012, “People don’t realize that on a network show, you make 24 episodes a year. That’s 10-and-a-half months a year, 17 hours a day. It’s hardcore.”

And Michael Weatherly, who’d played Tony DiNozzo since the very first season, left the show for a similar reason. “I was burnt out by NCIS and I was ready for a new challenge. Sometimes change is as good as a rest,” he revealed to The Hollywood Reporter during the summer of 2016.

But there’s also been rumors that the NCIS set still isn’t a great place to work… and possibly because of Harmon. He’s been the subject of allegations leveled against him by Pauley Perrette, who left the show in 2018. The feud between the two actors has been going on for a while now.

Apparently, it all stemmed from an incident with Mark Harmon’s pet. In 2016, at which point the show had been going on for well over ten years, Harmon took his dog to the shoot. And it injured one of the crew, who’s never come forward publicly. The unidentified victim apparently needed 15 stitches due to the injuries caused by the animal.

The cast allegedly weren’t impressed with Harmon after this incident, especially as he carried on bringing the animal to the shoot, and Perrette decided to confront him about it. Whatever happened between them then isn’t entirely clear, but their relationship seemingly soured immediately. Suddenly, the pair didn’t even film scenes together. They’d perform separately and the footage would then be edited together afterwards.

And after leaving the show, Perrette started leaving cryptic messages on Twitter. In 2018 she wrote, “There is a ‘machine’ keeping me silent, and feeding FALSE stories about me. A very rich, very powerful publicity ‘machine.’ 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.”

The assumption was that the “he” in question was Harmon. CBS then released a statement to the media following the tweets. It read: “Pauley Perrette had a terrific run on N.C.I.S. 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.”

But despite all this, Harmon obviously remained on the show. And he seems to get on quite well with his other co-stars. In 2014 show newcomer Emily Wickersham told the Perth Now website, “When I first got there, Mark was so sweet. He is such a grounded person, and he has set up a work environment where everyone is happy to be there. I really believe that starts with him and trickles down.”

Sean Murray, who plays Tim McGee, had more praise for his co-star. He said to Country Living magazine in February 2019, “We wouldn’t be here, 16 years later, if it wasn’t for Harmon. Harmon is a very special individual.” And it was Murray with whom Harmon shared his final scene on the show.

But what about Harmon’s relationship with Wilmer Valderrama, another one of the show’s biggest stars? Fans got to asking that when Valderrama posted an Instagram snap in April 2022. It was of him, Murray, Katrina Law, Diona Reasonover, and Brian Dietzen, and was captioned: “These great people, they bring me so much joy on set.”

But there was no sign whatsoever of Mark Harmon in the picture. Some fans wondered if this was a confirmation that Harmon and Gibbs were never returning to the show, and a few of them responded with that question. But the other option was that maybe Harmon and Valderrama don’t get along, and that’s why he wasn’t in the photo.

Some may have thought that — but have no fear, it isn’t the case at all. Valderrama and Harmon aren’t just amicable co-workers, they’re actually good friends, just as Gibbs is a close pal of Valderrama’s character Special Agent Nick Torres. Valderrama chatted about the relationship during a 2018 interview with the show Access.

Valderrama enthused, “I love the cast, I love the crew. You know, I get along with them so great. Mark Harmon and I are straight-up besties. And we’re having quite the bromance. That guy and I love each other so much.” And he said a similar thing a year later when speaking to Entertainment Tonight.

Asked what’d kept the show going for so long, Valderrama said, “I think that audiences can see that something on set is working, and that people like coming to work and they’re still trying… You talk about Mark Harmon, Mark is someone that leads with kindness, and his energy is beautiful. We have quite a bromance going on, him and I.”

And it turns out that one of the things the pair bonded over was both being featured in a People “Sexiest Man Alive” issue. Valderrama told the magazine in 2019 that he often laughed with Harmon about it, and joked, “Looking at Mark Harmon into his deep, ocean eyes, you really feel like you have no floaties.”

Valderrama thinks the relationship between his and Harmon’s characters is a great one, too. He spoke about it with the website TV Line in April 2021, just after the show was renewed for season 19 — but before anyone knew Gibbs wasn’t going to be around for most of it.

Valderrama said that Gibbs had developed into an “accidental father figure” to Torres. He mused, “For a time, Torres had no real direction, as he was just going from mission to mission. And Gibbs gives him a family, one like he never had. To be honest, Gibbs in the past couple of years has been more of a father to Torres than anybody else.”

“When Torres was hit by that car and was in the hospital, it was an emotionally available Gibbs, like you had never seen, who shows up,” Valderrama continued. “It was really interesting to see Gibbs be that concerned and attached to Torres, so this week’s scene — without giving away anything that it is built on — is kind of a commemoration of the unspoken bond they have.”

Valderrama added, “And you will see where that relationship goes from here. It’s a bit of a beacon of things to come. We built it that way because Torres is learning to be not just a team member but also a leader. With the show evolving into its 19th season, it’s fun to peel those layers but also give those two characters more of that bond that the fans may want to see.”

But, of course, Harmon’s now left the show, and audiences have witnessed Torres’ sadness over not having Gibbs around anymore. Things might get even sadder going forward, too — at least for the fans. There are rumors that Valderrama could end up following in his “bestie’s” footsteps, and leave NCIS.

After all, some big news hit at the end of 2021. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Valderrama had been cast as the title character in a Disney TV remake of Zorro. And while that was no doubt an exciting career boost, would he be able to fit in both that and the long hours of NCIS?

Valderrama was thrilled about the new role. He told The Hollywood Reporter, “Growing up, Zorro was the one character that made me, as a Latino, feel like I could be a hero. As an adult and a storyteller, I have a responsibility in the stories that I help bring to life.”

And, allegedly, NCIS is having difficulties no matter what. According to an unnamed source who spoke to the Globe in 2022, “I’ve never seen a show in such disarray… it seems like everything that can go wrong has gone wrong.” Ratings had apparently plummeted since Harmon’s last episode.

Fans seemingly haven’t adjusted well to Harmon leaving. After the news hit, they definitely made their feelings known on social media. Some of the comments even got a little hostile, with fans accusing CBS of lying about the storyline, and another tweet stating flat-out, “This show is going in the toilet.”

So will Valderrama leave as well? Fans did notice that the actor’s Instagram wasn’t tagged when the announcement of NCIS season 20 hit social media. A viewer wrote fearfully to him, “I know that you are going to be playing Zorro, I just pray they don’t kill off Torres. My heart can’t take it!”

Valderrama’s social media posts do seem to imply that he’s staying put, though, at least for now. In April 2022 he posted a gym selfie on Instagram along with the words, “I mean it… I won’t quit till the job is done.” It was cryptic, but some fans thought that was his way of quelling the rumors.

Still, there’s at least a glimmer of hope for those Gibbs fans who were mad at Harmon leaving. Sean Murray revealed to the Parade website in May 2022, “[Harmon] does pop in [to the set]. 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,” Murray added. “I really believe that there’s a possibility of that happening.” So who knows? If a season 21 ever happens, perhaps Valderrama and Harmon will be able to portray their bromance on screen once more.