“It’s going to shake up the team, and I think it’s going to probably really push us to go rogue in Season 23.”
NCIS isn’t afraid to go there when it comes to delivering heart-wrenching twists. And according to Wilmer Valderrama, the show is about to break a lot of hearts with one character’s season 22 fate.
The hit procedural drama is airing its season 22 finale on May 5, and the actor (who plays SSA Nick Torres) went on CBS Mornings on May 1 to promote the last episode of the installment. While folks adore the current group of agents working in the NCIS, Wilmer teased the group may look a little different after the episode airs. As he shared with co-hosts Gayle King, Nate Burleson and Tony Dokoupil, one m ajor character who’s close to all the team members will be killed off in the finale.
“Somebody dies — and it’s not the murder of the week,” he stated in the clip posted on YouTube. “It’s somebody, unfortunately, very close to us, and it’s going to be very earth-shattering and really heartbreaking.”
Even though Wilmer couldn’t say which NCIS member will no longer be part of the hit CBS series, he noted that it will leave a lasting effect on the remaining members when the show comes back for season 23. And as for why the sudden switch-up, the star explained that it came from a place of wanting to shake things up for NCIS.
“It’s going to shake up the team, and I think it’s going to probably really push us to go rogue in Season 23,” he added about the character death. “The biggest idea was to say, ‘How do we disrupt the peace of Season 22 and set up the tone for Season 23?’ And this episode does that better than we’ve done in many years.”
As fans know, NCIS has had a number of cast shakeups over the last few years. After Mark Harmon exited the show as Leroy Jethro Gibbs back in October 2021, fans later had to mourn David McCallum (who played Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard) after his death at age 90 from natural causes in September 2023. As for how the actors on the show reacted to David’s passing, Wilmer penned a heartbreaking tribute about the impact David had on both him and the show.
Looks like we’ll need to have a box of tissues beside us as we watch the NCIS season 22 finale …