Back in NCIS Season 11, a handful of episodes after Cote de Pablo made her final appearance as Ziva David as a series regular (she’d later return in the Season 15 finale and a few Season 16 episodes), Emily Wickersham’s Ellie Bishop was brought in to take her spot on the team being led at the time by Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Wickersham also had a lengthy stay on the hit CBS show, ultimately departing in the Season 18 finale. A few years after that major NCIS exit, the actress has posted a picture of herself with blonde hair again, which naturally resulted in the series’ fans posting a lot of comments.
Up until recently, Wickersham had been rocking the brunette look, but now she’s decided to go back to the blonde locks she proudly displayed during her 8-year run as Ellie Bishop. Take a look at her Instagram post below showing, as she put it in the caption, Wickersham going “back to blonde programming.”
Although Emily Wickersham had appeared in various movies and TV show before joining NCIS, the procedural is her main claim to fame, so naturally fans swarmed the post’s comments section to give their two cents. First off, @wildinthemix_96 effectively voiced what many were thinking upon seeing the blonde look:
Makes me miss Ellie Bishop 😭
Like most actors who’ve been NCIS series regulars, but eventually left the show, Wickersham has yet to return to this corner of the CBS programming block; in fact, she hasn’t acted in anything since that exit, though keep in mind she did have a child in 2021 with her partner James Badge Dale. Fortunately, unlike people like Lauren Holly’s Jenny Shepard or Duane Henry’s Clayton Reeves, Ellie Bishop is still alive, so the option for her to come back is still on the table, which @scottd811 is certainly hoping will happen.
Come back to NCIS!! You are missed.
While it’s unlikely Emily Wickersham would resume being a series regular if Ellie resurfaced on NCIS, it would certainly be easy enough to bring her back in a guest starring/recurring capacity, just like what happened with Cote de Pablo. If anything, the actress going blonde again might get fans to start championing for that to happen even more than before. Check out what @craigdeane said:
Looks good, reminds me of your NCIS years.
For those who need a refresher, at the end of NCIS Season 18, Ellie Bishop resigned from the law enforcement organization (ahead of Gibbs’ own departure in the following season), as she’d decided to go on a long-term undercover mission being handled by Odette, who’d been working with Ziva during the time she was presumed dead. Ellie leaving also meant that her long-simmering romantic dynamic with Wilmer Valderrama’s Nick Torres would never be fully explored beyond the kiss they shared immediately before going their separate ways. So if you’re like @cathymcalle, you’d like to see NCIS eventually resolve this lingering plot thread.
Love it!! Please tell me you’re coming back to #NCIS for some unfinished business with Nic! 🫶😉💙🤞🤞
Finally, as a bonus, Emily Wickersham’s NCIS co-star Brian Dietzen, who continues to star as Jimmy Palmer, complimented the actress for going blonde again. See for yourself:
Looking great Em!
Obviously should the day come that it’s announced that Wickersham will reprise Ellie Bishop, we’ll let you know. For now, although NCIS has been renewed for Season 21, it’s remains unclear when it will air on CBS. For now, you can stream all prior 20 seasons with a Paramount+ subscription, or feel free to scan through our 2023 TV schedule to see what shows are dropping new episodes now or in the near future.
