NCIS Character Departures: The Full Timeline
People keep asking me about when Ducky leaves NCIS, and honestly it comes up a lot at conventions and in forums. David McCallum's Dr. Donald Mallard stayed on that show for nearly fifteen seasons before his character's death, which was a pretty remarkable run for a procedural series. Let me lay out the full timeline of the most notable character departures from NCIS so you have it in one place. Ducky's exit happened in Season 15, Episode 14, titled "Dead Man Walking," which first aired on February 19, 2018. Within the show's storyline, Ducky suffers a heart attack during an autopsy. He recovers enough to be told about an experimental surgery that carries real risk, and he ultimately decides not to go through with it. The episode ends with him passing away peacefully in Abby's arms. David McCallum had been experiencing health issues with his own heart around that time, so the timing made sense on both sides of the camera. I remember the backlash from fans when that episode first aired. People were genuinely upset. McCallum had been in the pilot episode back in 2003, so his presence was essentially a constant for anyone who'd been watching since the beginning. It felt like losing a foundational piece of the show.
Here's the rest of the major departures, roughly in chronological order: Leroy Jethro Gibbs, played by Mark Harmon, left at the end of Season 19. The final episode, titled "The Whole Truth," aired on May 19, 2022. Harmon had announced his intention to step down a couple years prior, and the writers spent several seasons building toward his exit. The finale showed Gibbs leaving NCIS to join the CIA's counterintelligence division in Langley, Virginia, giving his team one last case together before he walked out the door for good. Cote de Pablo's Abby Sciuto departed in Season 10, Episode 22, titled "Sacrifice." That aired on April 22, 2013. Abby's storyline involved her being exposed to radiation during a mission and having to retire from field work. She left NCIS to marry Peter Marshall and start a family. She actually returned for guest appearances in Seasons 11, 12, and 14, so she wasn't completely gone forever. De Pablo came back a total of four times after her initial departure.
Michael Weatherly's Tony DiNozzo left at the end of Season 13 in the episode "One Shot, One Kill," which aired on May 17, 2016. Tony was transferred to the NCTF in Quantico alongside his partner James Palmer. The writers then brought him back for a guest appearance in the Season 14 premiere. Weatherly stayed with the show longer than most people expected given how central his character was to the dynamic. Sean Murray's Timothy McGee also went through a departure and return cycle. Murray left during Season 12 after what he later described as creative disagreements, but he came back partway through the season and stayed for the rest of the run. His character's exit wasn't written into the show itself; it was a behind-the-scenes situation that eventually got resolved. Aaron Petersen's Dr. Jimmy Palmer, who took over as the medical examiner after Ducky's death, is still with the show as of the latest season. Nicholas Tsezzi played Palmer in a few early episodes before Petersen took over the role permanently.
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There are other departures worth noting. Renee Felice Smith's Kasie Hines left in Season 18. Emily Wickersham's Ashley Todd departed around Season 16. Roark Critchlow's Agent Brad Carter was written out after just one season in Season 14, which was notably short-lived. Linda Hunt's Hetty Lange left in Season 12, though she returned in a couple of later episodes as a recurring guest star. The bottom line is that NCIS has gone through a lot of personnel changes over its twenty-two-season run, and the Ducky exit was one of the most emotional ones for long-time viewers. The show has kept going, but the dynamic changed significantly after several of these departures stacked up within a few years of each other. If you're trying to track down specific episodes for any of these exits, the best approach is to go by season and episode number rather than trying to remember air dates. Some of these episodes aired in mid-season breaks, which makes the timeline confusing if you're not careful. Ducky's episode, for example, was mid-season in early February, which threw a lot of people off because it didn't feel like a traditional spring or finale episode.
I've seen people on forums argue about whether Ducky's death was handled well or not, and honestly it depended on who you talked to. Some viewers felt the heart attack storyline was too sudden. Others appreciated that the writers gave him a proper sendoff rather than just writing him offscreen. The episode itself was directed by Dennis Smith and had a fairly low-key tone compared to the usual NCIS action format, which probably contributed to its emotional impact. The showrunners at the time were Christopher Louke and Shane Brennan, and they oversaw a lot of these transitions. Getting multiple iconic characters to leave in a span of five or six years is unusual for a procedural. Most shows of this type keep their core cast relatively stable. NCIS had to rebuild its dynamic several times over, which explains some of the tonal shifts people notice between Seasons 15 through 19.
