‘NCIS’ Episode 500 featured a surprise cameo we bet you did not catch
This story contains spoilers.
Not many shows have the singular honor of airing 500 episodes in an unbroken run. The recently aired episode 500 of 'NCIS' on CBS would be remembered for several things, the chief among them being Director Vance's shocking death and the unexpected cameo of a familiar character. The episode kicked off with a familiar framing device: Rocky Carroll's Vance was summoned to an empty NCIS office by an investigator. A month before this interview, NCIS had been disbanded, and its remnants were combined with the Army Criminal Investigation Division.
While urging Vance to detail the reunion of his team, the interrogator revealed that CID Director Wayne Rogers was an associate of a smuggling racket. Thompson initially offered help but soon shot Vance. The latter momentarily thought that he was alright, wearing his bulletproof vest and all, but the Director eventually realized during the course of his interrogation that he hadn't been wearing a vest and that he was actually dead. The investigator then turned out to be a younger version of Donald 'Ducky' Mallard, played by the talented Adam Campbell. It is worth remembering that the character of Ducky was traditionally played by David McCallum and left the show in season 21 following McCallum's death at the age of 90.
Although McCallum himself didn't appear in the 500th episode of 'NCIS,' his younger self, portrayed by Campbell, offered a nostalgic nod to the show's golden past. The cameo also gave Vance's exit the narrative flourish that it deserved. On the other hand, 'NCIS' executive producer Stevie D. Binder explained in an interview with TVInsider that Ducky's cameo wasn't their first choice for Campbell's appearance on the episode. Binder remarked, "You don’t need a special reason to bring back Adam Campbell. The man is a rock star. However, in this case, Ducky was actually not the first choice, simply because we lost David (McCallum) in real life, and he was gone. It never crossed my mind that we could bring Ducky back. And there was a short list of candidates. But then I happened to catch one of the Young Ducky episodes on Paramount+, and the moment I saw Adam’s face, I realized what it needed to be."
Elsewhere, the episode also featured an unusual reference to another beloved former character. Pauley Perrette's Abby Sciuto was an energetic character on 'NCIS' and known extensively for her skills as an accomplished forensic scientist. The episode depicted Sciuto's successor, Kasie Hines, going through logistical items in the basement when she came across a huge collection of Sciuto's personal effects, including her clothes and her shoes. The metaphor of fitting into someone else's shoes was perhaps never better portrayed.
