There’s a job opening at the top of the “NCIS” food chain.
Earlier this season on the hit CBS procedural, Rocky Carroll’s Director Vance was killed in the line of duty after 18 years overseeing the team. And we still haven’t heard who, if anyone, will step in to replace him as director. So should it be an “NCIS” veteran, or someone completely new?
“My preference, I’d like to see a familiar face,” Brian Dietzen, who plays Jimmy, told TVLine at the annual CBS Fest in Los Angeles. “Especially with all the tumult of losing Director Vance, I would like to see a familiar face there, so that we kind of know what our bearings are.”
He adds that “there are dozens of people to choose from” in the greater “NCIS” universe, while noting that showrunner Steven D. Binder “has really kept us in the dark on” who might be coming in as director. “But for the rest of this season, I think it’s fair to say we’re not getting anyone set in stone quite yet.”
Gary Cole, who plays Parker, points out that the “NCIS” writers have “played around with something that happens in reality, which is that it’ll be a position that possibly isn’t filled, or there are interim people that just keep parading through.” He also doesn’t think that Parker is a great candidate to move into the director position: “He’s got a little too many anger issues.”
Wilmer Valderrama, who plays Nick, casts his vote for Parker: “My vote was always this guy, but he also likes to be in the field.” To him, though, the open director position is “an opportunity to shake things up. It’s an opportunity to create new waves, and we’ll see what happens.”
The producers are keeping an eye out for a possible replacement
“NCIS” showrunner Steven D. Binder reminds us that Rocky Carroll’s Leon Vance brought the role of director to a new level: “Prior to him appearing, we had a director we saw every now and then… When Rocky came on the show, he wasn’t originally in that many episodes. He was sort of an as-needed kind of thing. And he grew the role and got more and more episodes each year, and then became the role. So you almost retire the jersey with him.”
Binder doesn’t rule out bringing in someone new to fill the role of director, though: “If something were to come our way, we would fill it. But I can tell you this season, we weren’t thinking like, ‘OK, how do we fill this role?’ We were thinking, ‘How do we put that to bed, so people aren’t asking or thinking too much about it right now?’ Because he’s just died. The team’s grieving. There are a lot of emotions coming in with McGee’s son. I don’t want to say it’s not necessary, because Rocky made it necessary. But without Rocky, it suddenly isn’t as necessary. So we’re going to keep our ear to the ground, and if a casting opportunity comes our way, we’re going to take it. But we’re not going to let the tail wag the dog.”
He’s also hesitant to promote a current “NCIS” team member to director, because “we have a chemistry with the team. If we pull someone out, they’re not going to be in the scenes that much. I don’t know that I want to lose anybody. Now if we can find a way to have a director who’s also really involved in the cases somehow, that might be interesting… But that’s what we’re thinking about.”
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