A little over a week ago on the 2026 TV schedule, NCIS delivered one of its biggest twists ever by killing off Rocky Carroll’s Leon Vance in the landmark 500th episode. Naturally many fans were saddened by the character’s untimely demise, as he’d been part of the show since Season 5, but showrunner Steven Binder said Vance’s death was necessary to remind people that there are “real stakes” on the CBS procedural. Well, according to Carroll, Mark Harmon, who led NCIS for nearly two decades as Leroy Jethro Gibbs, was not a fan of this creative decision.
Harmon and Carroll go way back, as even before they shared screen time on NCIS for 15 seasons, they co-starred in four seasons of Chicago Hope. So the former has no trouble sharing his unfiltered thoughts with the latter, hence why he said he wasn’t a fan of NCIS sending Vance to the great beyond. As Carroll shared with moderator Matt Mittovich during a post-“All Good Thing” screening held by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation:
