Writer Jesse Stern shared on the podcast Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch what it was like when he was told to kill off a beloved character on the hit show
Fans are usually devastated when a beloved TV character is killed off – and sometimes the writers are just as heartbroken.
Mike Franks, played by Muse Watson, was one of these characters. The mentor of Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS appeared in 20 episodes, scattered throughout season three to fifteen.
However, he was killed off in season eight, with later episodes having Franks appear as a ghost. Jesse Stern was the writer who killed Franks off and recently shared how he felt when was ordered to do so.
Jesse appeared on the podcast Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch hosted by Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo, who played Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David respectively in the show. Michael brought up how Jesse tended to kill off important characters, mentioning Franks by name.
The writer quickly reacted to Franks’ death, telling the podcast hosts: “Oh my god, that was one of those ones. Gary Glasberg, rest in peace, handed me that assignment.”
“He said, ‘We’re going to kill Mike Franks.’ And Franks hadn’t been in an episode that season,” he continued, “And I was just like, ‘Are you kidding me? We’re going to bring the guy in just to kill him off?'”
Jesse said he tried to talk Gary out of the decision, but there wasn’t any chance of changing his mind. He noted that was the last script he wrote for the show.
“I was like, ‘If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it in a swan song,'” he added, “I’m going to do it in a way you don’t see coming and I’m going to do it in a way where the actor can come back.”
Franks died in the penultimate episode, appropriately named Swan Song. In the episode, Franks stepped outside of Gibbs’ house when he noticed Jonas Cobb on the street.
Jonas was known as the Port-to-Port killer and was a recurring antagonist on the show. Franks attempted to arrest him, which ended with him getting fatally stabbed.