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By Michaela Gordoni
At 487 episodes, NCIS showrunner Steven D. Binder is already plotting for NCIS episode 500.
“The only early thought is the same thought that we had for 250, 300, 400, 1,000th, which is to do something really special and worthy of that number, and what does that look like?” the showrunner told TV Line. “At various times, it’s been about going back to the pilot. At one time, it was going back to when Gibbs and Ducky first met, or having the case span the entire history of the show.”
He said that the team has some ideas, but they’ve got to decide what is most “worthy” of the significant milestone. The stakes are raised with each hundred episodes that pass.
In NCIS’s 200th episode, Gibbs had flashbacks of Mike Franks while in a standoff with an anonymous gunman. The 250th had a guest appearance from Robert Wagner as Dinozzo Sr. The 300th had Taye Diggs guest star as “Gunny,” with more Gibbs flashbacks. Episode 400 shared how Gibbs met Ducky. The franchise’s 1000th episode had references to the series’ pilot.
Though actor Sean Murray’s acting portfolio is largely NCIS, after the 1000th episode aired he said, “It’s funny, because like people will say, ‘Oh, you must be tired of playing the same character for 20-plus years.’ But my character, luckily for me, has been able to evolve as the show has grown. So none of it has ever felt boring to me. I always feel like there’s growth there.”
He says part of the show’s success is that the writers don’t keep the characters “stuck.” They grow, get older, change their minds and “evolve.”
“Let us have the things that happen to people over a 20-year period of time,’” he said of the writers’ mentality. “So we were able to have the same characters, but able to tell different stories, because we didn’t get locked into a certain time frame where they can’t get older.”
Earlier this year, CBS renewed NCIS for Season 23 and renewed NCIS: ORIGINS and NCIS: SYDNEY for another season. NCIS: NEW ORLEANS, NCIS HAWAI’I and NCIS: LOS ANGELES were all previously cancelled. NCIS: TONY & ZIVA will come out this fall, Collider reported.
TONY & ZIVA features two former NCIS agents. They’ve been raising their daughter together in Paris and living a less intense lifestyle until Tony’s security company gets attacked, sending them on an adventure across Europe.
NCIS’s 500th episode will likely come out during Season 23, which is expected to release this fall.
Read Next: Don’t Miss This First Look at NCIS: TONY & ZIVA
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