The original NCIS is one of the longest-running shows in television history, and for good reason: audiences love to see wild crimes solved by a cast of impossibly charming characters. Most of these characters stick around for many years, which gives the show a kind of found family vibe that you just can’t find anywhere else on television. Some characters, though, disappear suddenly and without any real warning!
NCIS has lost so many of its original cast that the modern show looks almost nothing like its earliest seasons. Did you ever wonder what happened with some of those early characters? Why did your favorite actors leave the series, and what tea did they spill after the fact? Don’t worry: we’ve got all the details you’ve been dying to know. Keep reading to discover why your favorite stars left the original NCIS!
The grass was greener on the other side for Michael Weatherly
Michael Weatherly was one of the early breakout stars of NCIS. It’s not hard to see why: his Tony DiNozzo character was a charming smart aleck who always got the best lines. Between that and the actor’s natural charisma, he managed to steal almost every scene that he appeared in. The actor’s many fans were understandably disappointed when Weatherly announced in early 2016 that he would be retiring from the show. Why, everyone wondered, would the actor leave the show that made him into a household name?
The short answer is that he wanted to try something new. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he told the Television Critics Association that he was both “burnt out” and “ready for a new challenge.” Sadly, this didn’t work out the way he had hoped: Michael Weatherly got his wish and played the title character in the CBS drama Bull, which lasted an admirable six seasons. But both the show and the actor were bogged down by an accusation of sexual harassment from co-star Eliza Dushku. The network settled with her, paying a cool $9.5 million; as for Weatherly, he apologized to her and returned to NCIS earlier this year with the spinoff Tony & Ziva.
Pauley Perrette got tired of the drama
Pauley Perrette was an institution unto herself on NCIS, playing geeky, gothic computer tech Abigail Sciuto for a whopping 15 years. The sheer length of her time on the show made her sudden exit very shocking; at the time, she told CBS Sunday morning that her main motivations for leaving were that she wanted a break from the familiar role and the “dehumanizing” fame that came along with it.
Things got darker later on when Pauley Perrette took to Twitter to make numerous allegations against NCIS lead actor Mark Harmon: for example, she claimed that he body-checked her on set in 2017. Later, she tweeted that. “I am terrified of Harmon and him attacking me. I have nightmares about it.” The president of CBS claimed that the allegations had been investigated and resolved, but that didn’t keep Perrette from later dragging NCIS showrunner Peter Lenkov on social media.
When Lenkov was the subject of a Vanity Fair article about his on-set misconduct, Perrette praised the reporting before going on Twitter and dropping a major bombshell claim. Specifically, she alleged that she heard a number of slurs on set that were “racist…misogynistic…and homophobic before wrapping up her thoughts with some Abby-like bluntness: “And y’all wondered why I quit? Those producers are still there. All of them. Including HIM.”
Cote de Pablo got forced out
Cote de Pablo has had a long and often-complicated relationship with the show that made her a star. She was part of NCIS for eight seasons and played Ziva David, a very beloved character. At the time, fans wondered why she would leave her television family, but the actor would only provide cryptic answers. In an interview with USA Today, she refused to give any real details, but she did confirm, “I didn’t leave because I wanted to go or because I was ready or because I was tired. I didn’t really have an option.”
The implication here is that she was forced out of the show by someone with power. But it seems like she might have settled things with this person behind the scenes, as Ziva’s character came back to NCIS for Season 16 and Season 17. Later, she joined co-star Michael Weatherly to headline the spinoff Tony & Ziva. Incidentally, getting a sponoff with your character’s name right in the title? That’s how you can tell audiences really loved Ziva!
Lauren Holly disappeared amid misogyny and drama
Lauren Holly’s character was kind of a big deal when she joined NCIS. She played the director of NCIS, which gave her plenty of authority over our favorite characters. But after starring in the show from Season 3 to Season 5, she abruptly left. At the time, the primary reason she gave for leaving (via her personal website) was that she was originally only hired to be a guest star for about six episodes; after she became a series regular, she got very bored by the role.
However, it seems there was more going on than she originally let on. Remember how Pauley Perrette took to social media to discuss the allegations against former showrunner Peter Lenkov? Well, Lauren Holly also took to Twitter to discuss the Vanity Fair article about Lenkov, writing that “Some words were EXACTLY what I and SO MANY went to @CBS #HR about THAT OTHER GUY’S abuse for over a decade y’all STILL support him on my old show.”
While we may never know the full story about this NCIS drama, it looks like Holly, like Perrette, ultimately left the show due to a toxic set that was very unfriendly to its female stars!
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