NCIS Star Rocky Carroll Breaks Down Episode 500’s Shocking Twist: ‘I Couldn’t Have Asked For More’
TVLINE | My condolences on the passing of Leon Vance. How did this storyline come about? Did you ask to leave the show? Or did the writers approach you with this idea?
I was not the catalyst for this happening. I also don’t think at the beginning of the season that it was planned. Because we shot this episode at the end of November, the beginning of December, and I think I found out two episodes before we shot it.
TVLINE | Wow.
Our executive producer Steven D. Binder came into my trailer and said, “Hey, we’ve got an idea for the 500th episode. We want to do something that really sends shockwaves through the TV community and the fan base, and your character is central to the storyline.” I was like, “I’m interested.” So he proceeds to tell me the storyline that the agency comes under fire, and it’s on the verge of being dismantled and folded into another agency, and… Director Vance saves the agency, and in the process of saving the agency, he loses his life. “It’s a great story. It’s gonna be really huge.” And my first thought was, “Back up to the part again: He saves the agency and loses his life?”
So after having a bit of an out-of-body experience with that, the creative side of me, the director in me, the storyteller in me… After 23 seasons, we’ve told a lot of stories, and we’ve told a lot of them more than once. So, as odd as this may sound, my first thought was: “That’s a great story.” [Laughs] Nobody’s gonna see it coming. So the part of me that’s the team player was instantly like, “That’s a hell of a storyline. I think that’s going to be really great.”
I say this in all sincerity: The only thing that surprised me more than being told what the story was and how it was going to impact my character was how quickly I was able to kind of come to terms with it. Because I’ve been playing this character for 18 seasons. 18 seasons is a lot. I feel like being a series regular on a hit show for 18 years is such an anomaly to begin with. The show is on for 23 years, with a 24th season already promised. I never thought that I would be doing this show and playing this character for 18 consecutive seasons. When I started, the show was already five years in. It was towards the end of the fifth season when my character was introduced, and I literally thought when I joined the series that I was coming in probably on the tail end. If it went seven or eight seasons, it would have been a great run. I think ‘The Sopranos’ ran for six seasons. One of the most critically acclaimed shows in history was less than 10 years. We’re now past decade number two.
And yes, I would have loved to have been one of the characters who was there for the very last episode, when they board up the windows, and when they officially do say, “All right, it’s time for everybody to turn off the lights and go home.” You’d like to be one of the last men standing. But after 18 seasons, I couldn’t have asked for more. If somebody had told me 18 years ago, you’re gonna do this show for nearly two decades, I would have bet the farm against that. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized if there’s ever a time to write a story where your character is a central figure of it, and there’s closure… I don’t know what the end of “NCIS” will ultimately be, but at least I feel like my character really kind of came full circle. With the 500th episode, Steve Binder said his objective was, “I want this to be a tribute and a love letter to your character.” And I think that’s what we accomplished.
