In a new interview, Rocky Carroll (who played Director Leon Vance for 18 seasons) revealed how the show’s original star reacted when he learned about Vance’s dramatic death in the landmark 500th episode.
According to Carroll, Mark Harmon — who played Leroy Jethro Gibbs for nearly two decades — was strongly against the decision to write Vance out of the series.
“He wasn’t as on board with the idea as I was,” Carroll shared. “He just felt like, ‘Hey man, what you brought to this role… almost two decades at this role.’ I think he was speaking from the heart… They just like, ‘No, we don’t want this to happen! We don’t want this to end! What can we do to make this go away?’”
Harmon reportedly tried to see if there was any way to prevent the character’s exit, showing just how much he valued Carroll’s contribution to the NCIS family.
Vance was shockingly killed off in the milestone 500th episode, sacrificing himself in a dramatic storyline. While Carroll accepted the powerful send-off and even called it “a great story,” it seems the man who built the show wasn’t ready to say goodbye to his longtime on-screen colleague so easily.
The revelation has touched many longtime NCIS fans, who remember the deep bond between Gibbs and Vance over the years. Harmon left the series as a series regular in Season 19, but he continues to serve as narrator and executive producer on the prequel NCIS: Origins.
This candid behind-the-scenes story adds even more emotion to Vance’s emotional farewell and shows how much the original cast still cares about each other after all these years.
Are you still recovering from Vance’s shocking death? Do you think Mark Harmon was right to push back against it?
