New episodes of NCIS’s 21st season started airing last night.
A lot was said about Special Agent Nick Torres in the first episode. This week’s show, on the other hand, will be all about my favorite character, Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard.
John Mallard’s actor David McCallum died in September 2023. Because of this, everyone thought the show would honor him at some point.
McCallum played Dr. Mallard, who used to be the top medical examiner and is now a historian for NCIS. He was in all 20 seasons of the show, but as Dr. Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen), played by Danielle Fish, became more important, he showed up less and less.
“For more than 20 years, David McCallum entertained people all over the world by playing Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, a smart, strange, and sometimes mysterious character,” explained Steven D. Binder and David North, executive producers of NCIS, when McCallum died.
Fans loved David a lot, but people who worked with him loved him even more… It was an honor to work with him from the start, and he always did his best. He was definitely a hero.
That night’s show ended with Torres giving Parker his badge. Thereafter, Palmer calls Parker.Someone tells Palmer, “Hey, slow down.”
Parker is shocked and answers the phone.
“What is going on? Why is this happening?” Nobody answers except McGee.
We only find out what’s going on after seeing a sneak peek of the next episode, “The Stories We Leave Behind.” Whatever happened to Ducky in that episode seems bad.
Although NCIS is sad about Ducky’s death, the next episode is called “The Stories We Leave Behind,” and it’s about a woman whose father was dishonorably released from the Marines. The agents find comfort in working on one of Ducky’s unfinished cases.
They wrote the next episode with EP Scott Williams, and it will remember Ducky and the actor who played him while they work on one of his unsolved cases.
The style was meant to stay true to NCIS, so it’s not just a bunch of old Ducky clips. According to Dietzen, they wanted to make a case that fits with the idea of losing a team member who was important to them.
Thus, we conceived the notion that the stories we leave behind are what truly matter after we are gone. The most important thing is what we leave our loved ones.
The crew hasn’t said if any old characters will be in the show, like Gibbs or Abby. We’ll see what happens next week.
Bring tissues, because it could get emotional.