After 999 episodes from throughout the franchise, the 1000th episode of NCIS will be arriving on April 15. Ahead of the episode’s airing, CBS has dropped a teaser trailer for the episode, and it includes a nod to a forgotten character who was killed off early into the series.
In the new teaser, it’s revealed how the entire agency is under attack from a new threat who seems to know the entire history of NCIS. This has the agents investigating by looking back at old cases, and this includes a look at a computer monitor with a couple of images. One of them is a picture of Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander), an original character introduced in the pilot who was killed off in the Season 2 finale. The other image is of Tom Morrow (Alan Dale), the original Director of NCIS who was killed off in 2016 during Season 13.
What Else Will Happen in the 1000th Episode
It’s expected that there will be a wide variety of Easter eggs and references going back to the first season of NCIS to be seen in the 1000th episode. There has been a lot of speculation about certain characters that could be making special appearances after their actors had previously left the series. Of course, many fans are wondering if Mark Harmon will make a surprise appearance as Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the episode, given its significance to the franchise. However, that doesn’t seem too likely, as the NCIS team didn’t bring back Harmon for the Ducky send-off episode, as they won’t want Gibbs’ potential comeback to be limited to a quick cameo.
“Of course the door is always open,” executive producer and co-showrunner Steven D. Binder told TVLine about Harmon’s possible return as Gibbs. “When we bring him back, we’re not going to bring him back for two minutes. It’s got to be something special.”
Michael Weatherly did pop up in the Ducky tribute, and it’s since been revealed that he will be back as Tony DiNozzo for an upcoming spinoff series that also brings back Cote de Pablo as Ziva David. As for the possibility of other fan favorites from the past returning for unexpected cameos in the near future on the series, it was recently teased that Pauley Perrette could potentially make a franchise return.
“We love Pauley, and she’s always welcome in any of the NCIS franchise, but it hasn’t come to us from the writers and/or from her… She was a beloved character,” CBS Studios President David Stapf recently told Deadline.
