Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS episode “All Good Things” are ahead!
Jimmy Palmer actor Brian Dietzen told me that NCIS’s 500th episode would be “very atypical” compared to the show’s past milestone episodes, and man, he was not kidding. With the airing of “All Good Things” on the 2026 TV schedule, Rocky Carroll has exited the CBS procedural after 18 seasons. His character, Leon Vance, was killed off in shocking fashion, and I will fully admit that I cried at this game-changing twist. But now that the tears have been wiped away, I know what big change NCIS should make in the aftermath of Vance’s death.
I’m not someone who usually cries while watching movies and TV shows, so for NCIS to get me to shed tears is a big achievement. I won’t get into the full details about what happened in “All Good Things,” but if you’ve read this far and still haven’t watched the episode, I recommend rectifying this immediately with your Paramount+ subscription. Suffice it to say that the combination of Vance being met in the afterlife by Adam Campbell’s young Ducky Mallard, learning that NCIS will continue on, and walking towards the light to reunite with his long-departed wife Jackie wrecked me. But now there’s a new question to ponder: who will become the new NCIS director?
While I think there’s a good chance a new character will be introduced to take over that position, I’d rather someone we already know succeed Leon Vance: one Timothy McGee. Sean Murray has been playing McGee since NCIS Season 1’s seventh episode, and aside from Mark Harmon, who made his last appearance as Leroy Jethro Gibbs on the series early in Season 19, Murray is the face I’m sure most people associated when they think of NCIS. Who better to take over running the agency than someone who’s been part of this show since almost the beginning?
But there’s more to my rationale than just Sean Murray’s long tenure. At the beginning of NCIS Season 22, McGee had applied to become the Deputy Director of NCIS, but that was derailed when Gabriel LaRoche got the job instead. LaRoche left the agency at the end of Season 22, but McGee has showed no interest about reapplying for the Deputy Director position, instead seemingly content with remaining on the Major Case Response Team. Maybe now he should revisit those leadership aspirations.
Truth be told, I’ve wondered for months if Sean Murray is leaving NCIS, especially after it was revealed last week that Timothy McGee has a teenaged son he never knew about. But now that Vance has been killed, I’m far less convinced that this is going to happen, though not willing to dismiss the possibility entirely. McGee deserves to take a big step forward in his career, and while Alden Parker may be the MCRT’s leader, he doesn’t strike me as the type who wants to run a government agency. McGee, on the other hand, would surely handle the transition to administrative duties seamlessly.
With seven episodes left to go in NCIS Season 23, I’m hoping that by the time the finale airs in May, I’m hoping Timothy McGee has been selected to be the new NCIS director, if not already sitting in Leon Vance’s old chair. Yes, it would take getting used to not seeing him in the field anymore, but I think this is a shakeup that could benefit the show quite nicely. So fingers crossed that McGee is calling the shots when NCIS Season 24 begins in the fall.
