You’re trained to save lives in war, but when you try to do the same outside the battle ground, you’re persecuted.

That’s essentially the story of NCIS Season 12 Episode 8, which will find Anna Dillon being brought to the attention of our team as she’s detained after helping save the lives of some car crash victims.

However, while Anna is trained in service, she is not licensed to do the same in the real world. Leroy Gibbs to the rescue!

Tonight’s episode is sure to get people talking about what is right and wrong in the laws – but it also features some fine performances by Mark Harmon and guest star Laura Seay. Fans will also be treated to a lighter story involving Abby’s dating life, as the team is concerned about her pattern of dating men.

To get more insight into the installment, I talked with Seay and showrunner Gary Glasberg. Read on for excerpts from our exclusive Q&A…

TV Fanatic: Where did the story come from for this episode?

Gary Glasberg: This was a storyline that came up and was actually written by two of my writers assistants. Scott and Matt Jarrett. It’s their writing television debut and they came to us with a terrific idea, something that we weren’t even aware of. The fact that you can train to be a Navy corpsman but that training doesn’t legally transfer back into the public world back on US soil was of interest to us. We thought that it was the kind of thing that Gibbs would connect with.

TVF: Why was this something that Gibbs responded to so strongly?

GG: I think at the end of the day Gibbs recognizes that there’s a loop hole in the system and this is a woman who dedicated her life to helping people and threw herself into some very dangerous situations and is very qualified at what she does yet she’s persecuted for trying to save lives. We lucked out in finding Laura. Once in a while you open up your casting and people come in and audition. I hadn’t heard of Laura before but there’s a comfort level, there’s a natural ease to how she acts and who she is and she and Harmon hit it off. It just worked. To us, it just felt natural, organic and real.

TVF: I felt the same way and I was waiting for them to say ‘come join the team!’

GG: [laughs] When you find someone like that and everyone gets along as well as they do no set, it wouldn’t surprise me down the road if we find a reason to have her back or maybe we’ll arrive at a crime scene and there’s an EMT and it’s her! We’ll have to see…

TVF: We get a piece of Abby’s personal life with her dating Burt and we also touch on her past dating McGee but why was this the right time to have that be a part of this episode?

GG: The Burt storyline is something that people seem to like and he’s fun to have around and we’ll keep that runner going. But realistically and understandably we couldn’t do it without McGree look out for Abby in a big brother kind of way. It was fun to write those scenes and to have Bishop be the outsider who wasn’t aware of the fact that Abby and McGee had a relationship years ago. It’s a recap for people and reestablish but I was pleased with it. I thought it turned out nicely.

TVF: What’s coming up? I know Jamie Bamber is showing up soon.

GG: We’ve been waiting a long time to meet Bishop’s husband and the Thanksgiving episode is just about finished and we’re polishing it up and we have this terrific mystery at a snowed in airport that has Tony and Bishop and her husband working with the rest of the team back in the office. It’s a fun, light holiday episode. Jamie and Emily have great chemistry together and we look forward to having him back and getting deeper into who they are as a couple and how being an NCIS agent as affected their relationship.

TVF: There’s a mention of Gibb’s father passing in tonight’s episode. Will we get more of that in the holiday episodes?

GG: I don’t think so. It’s the kind of thing that continues to come up but we want to make sure it’s always there, always present and his passing is still a part of what Gibbs is thinking about and dealing with. In classic NCIS fashion, you can touch on the subject and keep him around and understand that he was an important part of Gibbs’ life.
NCIS Season 12 Episode 8 Promo

Next, Laura Seay provided some insight into her character as well as working with Mark Harmon.

TV Fanatic: How did you approach stepping into this role of Anna Dillon?

Laura Shey: There were a lot of things about her that I related to personality wise so that felt like a good way in. She seems very rigid in her physicality because she’s had that training. I’m not going to compare growing up doing sports and being in the military but I was excited about this aspect of her having that as part of her personality and being very rooted physically.

I really related to her on an intellectual and a physical level and the fact that she was also very driven, I really admired that but when it got down to the moral aspect of it and how she’s contending with these really ethical issues…I can’t say that I’ve been in the such a heightened position as she was in this particular episode but personality wise, I did relate to her in a couple ways but in terms of her experiences that was something that took a little extra work.

Honestly, being paired with a real life corpsman that worked with the Marines, Mark Horowitz, one of the producers on the show, was able to facilitate that and that really helped me get in the experience of the character and hear his stories and hear what he’s been through.

TVF: The show says a lot about doing what’s right and what’s wrong with the laws. Did it make you think about that in the context of the show or in general?

LS: Yeah. As far as the issues, I was aware of it in more of a vague way and I knew there were certain laws about if you don’t have the training you shouldn’t attempt to move somebody for fear of paralization and there would be consequences in that way but in terms of the military and the laws of the military someone coming out of service who has a lot of training but it’s not held at the same standards as what the University programs for studying medicine.

I didn’t know how nuanced the issue actually is and how unnuanced the law for the issue actually is. The law doesn’t seem to be written for people in Anna’s situation. She has extensive medical training in the military but for whatever reason she’s not licensed as an EMT to practice in the US. So it’s a very unnuanced law for a very nuanced issue. That’s what I came away with.

TVF: How was working with Mark Harmon? Anna has a really nice connection with Gibbs.

LS: Yeah, he made that real easy. He’s incredibly friendly and he’s also very authentic and sincere. From day one of shooting he made me feel like I’d been on the show a lot longer. It’s hard to be going on as a guest star to a show with people who have been working together for twelve seasons. It’s like where do I sit at the lunch table kind of feeling! He really alleviates that immediately and right away he was taking me under his wing and wanted to get to know me and where I was from. The majority of my scenes are with him just talking so that helped make it a lot easier. It was like there was a shorthand between us, which was great.

TVF: Let’s say they ask you to come back for another episode. Is that something you’re open to?

LS: Yeah! I would absolutely love that. Besides Mark, everyone in the cast was really exceptional and lovely even just the eight days I was shooting and that goes for everyone on the production crew. It was a really fun experience.

NCIS Season 12 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

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It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day a few days early on the set of NCIS, at least for one guest actor who is waving a gun in the faces of a handful of hostages aboard a ship that has been commandeered in international waters. Among the captives is one Leroy Jethro Gibbs, taken by surprise while investigating what had looked to be an empty vessel. There’s just enough of an echo of Captain Phillips in this scenario that you can picture the pirate in question suddenly declaring, “I’m the special agent now.”

Instead, the hijacker is on the phone with Michael Weatherly and recurring guest star Diane Neal…or he will be, when the episode airs Oct. 21, at which point editors will have cut in footage of those two arguing on the other end of the line about who’s in charge of the negotiation. Whatever they are or will be saying, the pirate is not impressed, because he barks, “I don’t need a boat. This isn’t a negotiation; it’s a demand! Blood’s on your hands now.” He grabs a woman to take up top and presumably execute, then gives his knee to the groin of a fellow hostage who tries to object. “You want to take her place?” That poor guy doesn’t, but there is some greater gallantry down the row. “I do,” says Gibbs, quietly offering himself in the woman’s stead while staring down the barrel of a trembling semiautomatic.

These are Mark Harmon’s only two words of dialogue in the entire scene, so, along with the baffled pirate, you study his poker face for hints of what TV’s favorite strong-and-silent-type is up to with this seemingly sacrificial bid: Does he have a plan to overtake his captor?
A plan to improvise a plan? Does that noncommittal look in his eyes signify a sniper’s cocky nonchalance, a captive’s hidden nerves, or some unknowable Gibbsian combination of all of the above? You can’t help but want to look deeper into the actor’s baby blues to guess whether he’s in control or worriedly winging it.

Maybe it speaks volumes about how eager we are for something that defies our chatfest-fueled times that the principal character on TV’s highest-rated drama is defined more by his warm but often inscrutable gaze than anything resembling a gift for gab. On a show otherwise populated by garrulous regulars, Gibbs is a “functional mute,” as Weatherly has kidded. If Harmon were being paid by the word, you might even consider him the best-remunerated actor in history.

“We joke about it,” says showrunner Gary Glasberg, “but honestly, every one of us does what we call a ‘Gibbs pass’ at some point in our writing process.” Christopher Silber, who wrote this episode, elaborates: “On other shows, the lead actor is always counting his lines. But I remember when I first got to NCIS [in 2005], figuring out how to write that character was so complicated. You would type what you think is very little, and then you’d get your script back and be told, ‘He can say that with a look, that with a look, and that with a look.'” Silber mimes one line after another being crossed out. “You get programmed to remember that and always think, ‘As few words as possible.’ Or no words, if possible. The best version of a scene would be no words at all for him! Or one word.”

It’s probably not too much of a spoiler to reveal that, at some point in this episode, Gibbs does literally get the upper hand on the shakiest semiautomatic in the west. After Harmon finishes blocking a bit of third-act combat with director Arvin Brown, the actor sits down in the darkness amid the video monitors to talk about not being talky.

“It’s reacting instead of acting,” Harmon explains. “Gibbs is more reactionary. And that’s more fun to play.” So what is his character thinking when he says “I do” to the pirate? “Gibbs always has a plan,” Harmon says. “I don’t know that he’s quite sure how it’s going to work out. That, in its predictability, is very unpredictable.” We can count on him for results, in other words. “The work part of this character I have no worries about: what he does on the job and how he does his job. It’s when he’s alone, away from it, that I think he’s really questionable.”

Questionable how? “It’s not an easy time for him,” says Harmon, alluding to the fact that Gibbs lost both his father and his mentor in recent seasons, on top of earlier personal tragedies. “When this job is gone, if it’s ever gone, keep me away from him.”

Gibbs may be the quintessential patriot, but he’s also the ultimate workaholic, delving into his duties as a constant distraction from the pain of losing his murdered wife and daughter in events long before the outset of the series. “Gibbs is a point leader,” he says. “He’s out in front. So the first person to get shot is going to be him, and that’s the way he’s always been. That’s what he believes and how he was trained. And in not caring as much, maybe, about life, there are freedoms in that. If it ends, it ends. Even though it’s about trying to do the right thing; I don’t think he’s stupid or that he’s got a death wish.”

All those ghosts and flashbacks aren’t incidental to Gibbs’ bravado in taking on “a dangerous job in a dangerous world,” Harmon is quick to add. “A lot has been taken [from him] also. His memory of great loss is not something the writers or I or anybody ever expects him to get over. It’s too deep. It’s also what makes him interesting and more fun to play.”

If it seems slightly incongruous for Harmon to keep using the word “fun” in connection with a stoic character who forever seems to be wrestling inner demons, consider the equal aspect in which NCIS makes seriocomic hay out of Gibbs’s relationships with his non-deceased wives. And Glasberg has promised we’ll meet another ex-spouse, who is yet to be cast, after the holidays.

“Are you talking about somebody we already know, or another one?” Harmon says, sounding surprised at this news. “What are we up to now, six?” He laughs. No, seriously: “Well, what is the number? Is it, like, five?”

Luckily, Silber (who wrote for the show until 2007 and then returned in 2013) is sitting nearby and knows his lore. “Three ex-wives” — living, that is — “and one dead wife. Yeah, that’s it. That’s all.” Viewers previously met the original love of his life, Shannon (Darby Stanchfield), in flashbacks, as well as Diane (Melinda McGraw), the ex he shares with a friend, FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell (Joe Spano), not to mention Stephanie (Kathleen York).

Gibbs’s wives are parceled out only slightly more sparingly than another recurring element built into the show’s mythos: Gibbs’s rules. It turns out this current season, number 12, will be a red-letter time for those. This very pirate-themed episode ends with the revelation of a previously unheard rule. And Glasberg promises a December episode will deal entirely with Gibbs’s rules, brought on by an encounter with the daughter-in-law of Mike Franks, the crusty mentor who was stabbed to death in 2011 and has occasionally shown up since as a fantasy confidante.

When Glasberg is informed that Harmon seemed surprised to learn that the audience would be meeting another ex-wife this season, the executive producer laughs. “He knows we’ve been playing with it for a while,” he says. But it leaves open a question: As an executive producer alongside Glasberg, just how involved does Harmon get beyond his job as actor?

Not much, you’d think, if you took your cues from listening to Harmon. As for the development of future storylines, Harmon says, “I don’t go up there and talk about it. I try to leave these [writers] alone. I like being surprised, or somewhat surprised, when they say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna do this.’ It’s fun for me to read it, and question it, and play it, and try to make it work” — closer to the actual shoot date.

But Glasberg paints Harmon as a true and extremely involved partner. “We have constant communication that happens multiple times a day,” says the showrunner. “I see him first thing in the morning; I talk to him when he’s home at night. There’s constant discussion of upcoming stories and ideas and of things that I’d like to do with his character and others. And that’s the way we’ve worked since I’ve been here. It’s terrific. I’ve never had that relationship with an actor before.”

If Harmon doth protest too much that he stays out of running the show, Glasberg says, “Isn’t that true of everything about Mark? He’s a very hardworking guy who doesn’t like to take credit. He does his job and does it brilliantly and then gets on his horse and rides off into the sunset.” (Or at least rides off in the Airstream trailer he keeps parked on the set.)

It’s generally well known that Harmon took a firmer hand behind the scenes a few years into the show’s run to try to turn a chaotic set into a steady one. It’s hard to argue with the results, as reflected in NCIS’s becoming TV’s most-watched drama in 2009 and continuing its reign ever since. “It’s more usual,” Harmon says, “for a series to get into Year 4 or 5, and all of a sudden you start seeing things slipping off, or people getting bored.

“And it’s unusual,” he continues, risking understatement, “that we’re 12 years in and still excited about what we’re doing. You look forward to getting up and making that drive in the morning because you’re going to work with friends — and, oh, yeah, by the way, it’s the No. 1 show in the world. This is rare air, where we are, and we know it.”

NCIS’s long run as the seemingly most stable set in Hollywood saw some bumps in 2013 when Cote de Pablo left the show on the eve of production, throwing a whole run of planned storylines into disarray. “Last year we went through a bunch of things in nobody’s control,” Harmon says obliquely. “We had a plan up front and then that plan changed rapidly, so the fact that these writers were able to pull together the season the way they did was a real feat. They worked their asses off.

“This season feels, in some ways, more organic,” he continues, “because the decks are cleared and they know where they’re headed” — with a full complement of stand-alone episodes occasionally being drawn together by an arc involving the Russian villain first caught (and fumbled) in the season premiere.

Others might have followed up a season of panicked Ziva-lessness by lightening their stress loads a little, yet Harmon and Glasberg ensured there would be no coasting by introducing a second spinoff, NCIS: New Orleans. Although no one would doubt it’s primarily creator Glasberg’s baby, you can catch Harmon being uncharacteristically willing to own up to just how involved he’s been in the new series, from casting to reviewing dailies to even weighing in on decisions about the music. The two agreed that the new series should be filmed on location and have a coshowrunner (Jeffrey Lieber) out in New Orleans, but the writers would remain on the NCIS lot in California, so scripts wouldn’t be hammered out via Skype.

Harmon has had no real involvement with the other spinoff, NCIS: Los Angeles, and initial fan hopes for significant character crossover didn’t amount to much after a much-hyped Season 1 appearance by Pauley Perrette. With New Orleans, though, more NCIS stars are putting in cameos than not. “It’s a personal choice,” emphasizes Harmon. “Each actor, that’s their choice. If they can’t, fine, and if they want to, great. Obviously, we have [recurring actors like] Diane Neal and Joe Spano who have come through here and could be a part of [NCIS: New Orleans] for case-driven reasons. Pauley’s character” — forensic scientist and Louisiana State University graduate Abby Sciuto — “certainly has a draw there based on where her character is from.” The NCIS stalwart most likely to regularly cross the 9pm divide onto the new series is Rocky Carroll, who will also be coming back to the Los Angeles edition of the franchise for the first time in three years.

Harmon is too much the TV veteran to make it sound as though NCIS: New Orleans is even guaranteed survival, let alone smash-hit status. “Gary and I will both be glad when it airs,” he says shortly before the series premiere, “and we’ll see if it’s received, and we’ll see how people are liking it or not.” (Turns out the show had the fall’s most-watched new series debut, with 17 million viewers that night, suggesting that the want-to-like factor, at least, is astronomical.) As an executive producer, Harmon used lessons from NCIS’s messier early years to figure out how he wanted to ease New Orleans into its run. “The start of [this show] was very different from the start of [NCIS],” the actor says. “They’re fortunate to have had this footprint.” But with NCIS strolling into its 12th season with 18 million viewers, what rookie series wouldn’t want to walk a mile in its moccasins?

NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

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Coming off of what showrunner Gary Glasberg has called a “tumultuous” Season 11 — during which two casting changes took place, the seeds were planted for a New Orleans spin-off and the passing of Ralph Waite was written in — CBS’ NCIS is back in “classic” form, Sean Murray tells TVLine.

The Season 12 opener (airing Tuesday at 8/7c) thrusts Murray’s McGee into a Russian hot zone with boss man Gibbs (played by Mark Harmon), paving the way for the introduction of a new adversary. Here, Murray previews all that and more.

TVLINE | Where do things pick up when the season opens up on Tuesday night? Are McGee and Gibbs already in the thick of things?
There’s an Internet technician, an IT guy, who’s in Russia and is supposed to be delivering the body of his dead uncle back to the States. Gibbs is sent to go ahead and escort him, and he picks McGee to go along with him. And then it all happens pretty quickly. Right from the get-go they’re in Russia and in a helicopter.

TVLINE | And then things go sideways?
[Laughs] And things go sideways, yes.

TVLINE | At least looking at the previews alone it looks like quite the fun two-hander for you and Mark.NCIS Season 12 McGee Gibbs
It was. And Mark and I had a really good time doing it. I mean, we had long hours, it was a lot of outside, night, exterior nights, and forests…. But it was a good episode. We wanted to kind of connect, to show the relationship between McGee and Gibbs a little bit more, and McGee kind of in a little bit of a more mature light, if you know what I mean.

TVLINE | Because when around Tony, there’s the temptation to goof around.
Exactly.

TVLINE | How would you say the McGee-Gibbs dynamic has evolved over all these years?
Well, I think Gibbs has a lot of trust in McGee and allows him to take part in a number of things that the old McGee would never be allowed to do. He has run interrogations and has taken the lead on a number of investigations, and just has more to give. Gibbs is almost a father figure to us, and we’re all like his children in a way, so I think that the bond between them has sort of tightened as McGee has “grown up.” There’s been a lot of character progression, especially from the early years. I mean, if you see some of the old episodes, McGee is a different guy.

TVLINE | All told, what is your favorite relationship to play on the show?
Hmm. That’s a tough one, because it’s totally different with everyone. In Abby’s lab, McGee is a lot more kind of loosey-goosey and relaxed NCIS Season 12than he is reporting in the squad room. I really like the McGee/Tony relationship a lot; it’s one of my favorite things on the show. Bantering with Michael [Weatherly], he can be very inventive, with lots of ad-libbing, and I appreciate that. It makes for good reactions, and sometimes you get some fairly good moments out of that.

TVLINE | I know Gary Glasberg was really excited about bringing on Alex Veadov as this season’s adversary. How would you describe this recurring Big Bad?
Oh, he’s a good one. I actually just saw the [premiere] for the first time yesterday — we were kind of separated while we were shooting, so I didn’t have a lot of scenes with him — but yeah, he’s a tremendously nice guy, and when I saw the episode I thought he was just perfect. He talks very kind of low and has a real foreboding presence…. I think we got a good one.

TVLINE | Gary also has talked about how last season had to serve many different masters, and he wanted to really get back to the “classic” NCIS formula with 12. Is that something you’re seeing in the early episodes?
Definitely. We’re sort of doing the more classic, serialized version of NCIS, whereas last year we had a lot of things to sort of address with Ziva leaving and the entrance of the Bishop character. There was a lot going on last year.

TVLINE | What is the state of the McGee-Delilah union? I have to imagine she’s worried about him over there in Russia. Does she get mentioned?
I believe she does get mentioned — if not the premiere, in the second episode. But there’s plenty of talk about Delilah (played by Margo Harshman), and I think we are going to see her at some point this year. That relationship will continue, as far as I know.

TVLINE | What kind of surprises does the Ducky flashback episode (airing Oct. 7) have for us? Anything that made you go, “Wow, I didn’t expect that”?
Well, just that “going to England” in the ‘60s with these flashbacks was really fun. The team and everyone in production worked really hard on trying to make it authentic, and Adam Campbell (Mixology) as a twentysomething Ducky is just perfect. He did such a great job, not mimicking but sort of showing us Ducky as a young guy, and it works. He looks a lot like him, he sounds like him…..

TVLINE | I can almost hear, like, Austin Powers music playing in the background as you describe the episode.
[Laughs] Exactly. That’s something that was fun, to read and see happen.

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Big things are coming on NCIS Season 12.

During the NCIS: New Orleans panel discussion at the TCA Summer Press Tour yesterday, executive producers Gary Glasberg, Jeffrey Lieber and Mark Harmon held court and spilled information.

To wit: there are already plans crossover the world of “the mothership” with the upcoming Big Easy-based spinoff.

“We’re currently planning an episode that’s coming out where Gibbs will make an appearance. There will be crossover between the two shows,” Glasberg confirmed. “We have a storyline where Michael Weatherly is involved, where Pauley Perrette is involved, David McCallum. That’s the fun of what we have here is having that interaction.”

Later that day at a CBS party in West Hollywood, I asked Glasberg about specifics regarding new episodes of NCIS. Consider yourself SPOILER WARNED and scroll down for interview excerpts…

TV Fanatic: Where are we finding our gang at the start of the season?

Gary Glasberg: It’s really interesting. Last season was so tumultuous. To have Ziva exit, Bishop arrive, the introduction of the New Orleans episodes and then Ralph Waite’s passing, it was a lot. I couldn’t do a cliffhanger. It was just disrespectful. So I think by doing it the way we did, by sort of resetting over the hiatus and then coming out of the gate with a big story, which is what we’re doing, we’re exciting about it.

It’s really about focusing on the team and the family because I know that the fans really respond to that and then, of course, really peppering it with all kinds of great little tidbits along the way.

The first episode starts in Russia and brings Gibbs and McGee to Russia and then a crisis happens and we’re off and running. It sets up an adversary for them that will track through the whole season.

TVF: So we’ll have a big bad for the whole season?

GG: On and off a big bad!  An actor named Alex Veadov. He’s a lovely man and he plays a Russian mercenary named Sergei Michnev. Very excited about that. He’s a terrific actor and excited about the potential of where he can go and the potential to cross over into the New Orleans show, as well.

TVF: That sounds great. What else is coming?

GG: Episode 3 is a Ducky origins story, which we‘re going to find a young David McCallum and I’m very excited about that. Steve Binder is writing that and we’re going to learn things like why the bow tie and all kinds of stuff. It will be a lot of fun.

TVF: Will it be a light, fun episode? Or will there still be a darker case along with it?

GG: There will be a case that goes along through it, but it brings Ducky and Bishop back to England. So we’re very excited about that.

TVF: Any old faces from the past either villains or other people we haven’t seen in awhile?

GG: We’re talking about different people. We’ll have to see who gets cast and who we ultimately bring in. But everything from trying to cast the elusive, unknown ex-wife, the one we haven’t met. We’ll also keep the Delilah story alive with McGee. And Tony, in episode 4, is going to meet a woman. So we’ll start to layer that in.

TVF: With both shows going, are you going to sleep ever again?

GG: I tend to stay up late so I go to bed around 2 and [exec producer Jeffrey Lieber] gets up around 4 so there’s only about 2 hours of time where we need to hire someone from 2-4 [am].

NCIS Season 12 premieres at 8/7c on Tuesday, September 23, with NCIS: New Orleans debuting immediately afterward.

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This Tuesday at 8/7c, in the penultimate episode of NCIS Season 11, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo is tasked with escorting an admiral’s beautiful daughter from Marseilles, France to the States — a bit of “babysitting” that will not come without (deadly) complications. On the occasion of DiNozzo’s French connection, TVLine invited original cast member Michael Weatherly to survey his alter ego’s latest exploits, reveal how the late Ralph Waite helped him reconnect with his own father and promise viewers “enormous” changes for Tony come Season 12.

TVLINE | It sounds like Tony is going to France this week… by way of Universal Studios.
The key thing about France-in-Hollywood, especially when it comes to our show, is that it’s always the backlot. And sometimes there’s a damsel in distress, and what that often means is that you need to send “the best of the best.” You need to send America’s very own James Bond, Tony DiNozzo. OK, basically it’s a babysitting job – a retrieval job – but the actress that I got to work with for those wonderful days is one of the most talented actors I have worked with in my whole career. Meg Steedle (Boardwalk Empire) is absolutely a joy, and a perfect fit for the specific brand of light comedy that I prefer to traffic in. Meg and I got to have all kinds of fun, in a Charade-style, “Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn on the run” sort of way. It was a very funny and light, with some nice twists. It’s my favorite episode in a long time, one where I actually got to do some other things. I think the audience will really like it.

TVLINE | [NCIS boss] Gary Glasberg keeps calling this a “Three Days of the Condor-type episode,” and that was a Robert Redford movie about a CIA researcher who comes back from lunch to find all of his colleagues murdered. Connect the dots – where is the similarity?
Well, there’s one scene, and I won’t spoil it for everybody, that it is eerily reminiscent of that film. And then there’s another scene where Tony references the movie and says, “It’s like Three Days of the Condor — except I’m Faye Dunaway.”

TVLINE | How is it, as an actor, when you’re off on your own like this, apart from the other principals, for an episode?
Well you know, it does happen from time to time, with The DiNozzo. The last time was going out to Israel to track down the lovely Ziva. And over the years there’ve been a couple other instances… like when I was handcuffed to Frank Whaley for the whole episode. But I always enjoy going out on a bit of a walkabout. And then it’s always nice to come back to the big orange room and see all my friends again.

TVLINE | In “The Admiral’s Daughter,” is Tony in action hero mode? Is there some derring-do?
I would say there is a degree of it. Maybe not as much as I would have liked, but at this point [in the season], also, I am tired. So it was nice to not have to run, and jump, and do too much of that. But this summer, actually, I am going to start training to do a triathlon in the fall. So maybe there’ll be a more physical DiNozzo in Season 12!

TVLINE | Tell me a bit about the May 13 season finale, which in large part pays tribute to the late Ralph Waite and his character, Jackson Gibbs. It sounds pretty damn emotional.
We were out at a cemetery and Ralph Waite’s cast chair was put out under a tree, and I think it gave everyone a moment to reflect on Ralph. And not just reflect on his wonderful contribution to our home at NCIS, but to his remarkable career and life. I had some great personal talks with Ralph over the years that I treasure. He will be missed and I’m very honored to be part of this show and this group of people that would make such a nice send-off, to a guy who really deserves it.

TVLINE | I come from a very large family, and my father happened to look a bit like Ralph Waite, so I of course grew up watching The Waltons. This guy was a part of my childhood.
He had a great sense of fun and he was a very determined, professional performer. And never ever did I get the sense that he wasn’t one hundred percent connected to the material and thrilled to be working. We had a series of episodes this winter — we shot the Robert Wagner episode, we had done a Ralph Waite episode, and then I was working with Keith Carradine, who in that episode turns out to have a son that he was unaware of – and after Ralph passed, I immediately went to the airport, got on a plane and flew down to Jamaica to see my dad, because I hadn’t seen him in nine months or so. Working on television, it’s very difficult to see family. Unless they live in Southern California, which mine does not, it’s pretty isolating. So, it was kind of as if Ralph gave me a nice moment with my own father.

TVLINE | Within the episode, what role do Tony and the others play in Gibbs’ grieving process?
Of course, this being NCIS, it’s tricky because there is a case — and Vance doesn’t want Gibbs, in his current state, to be dealing with the case. So, he puts DiNozzo in charge, and you know how that always ends up. That lasts about one act. [Laughs] Always a bridesmaid, Tony DiNozzo. Will he ever be the bride? I don’t know.

TVLINE | I understand that this season you’ve really been enjoying the stuff with Sean Murray, with DiNozzo/McGee.
Sean and just had lunch and watched [last week’s] episode, which I think is one of the great episodes of our season. [Director] Dennis Smith did a terrific job. Again, he always just makes these great, great shows. It’s fun and light, but also deep and moving and impactful. It’s what NCIS does best, that balance of making you feel good and warming your heart but also making you laugh out loud, hopefully a couple of times.

TVLINE | And did I read that while shooting the April 22 episode, you yourself actually gave the cleanse a try?
It lasted about six hours. I thought that would be funny. That was not funny. So yeah, no. Cleansing is not a great idea. For anybody.

TVLINE | Well, speaking of funny…. Do you still feel like people are laughing with Tony and not at him, which is a perception-slash-concern shared by a few fans out there?
I think it’s a very tricky balance for a lot of reasons. But I think that Tony, this season, has been without his foil in the way of Ziva David (played by Cote de Pablo). In some ways, that’s been good for him because he didn’t have that crutch, that go-to. He kind of had to figure some stuff out. And listen, sometimes Tony’s a hot mess! I love him, but I think the guy probably has in the last season spent a few too many days feeling sorry for himself, sitting on the couch, eating Doritos and watching reruns of It Takes a Thief – during which he probably keeps saying to himself, “Wow, Robert Wagner looks just like my father.” But what Gary Glasberg and I were discussing the other day is that the end of this season for Tony was maybe a bit of a putting to bed some of those clownish quirks, the ones that are over the top. And I think that for the most part, they have disappeared. But sometimes, like when you have to get McGee ready to be undercover as a homeless person, you go a little a little crazy with “the cat pee odor.” Sometimes Tony is not supposed to be likeable all the way. Sometimes he’s not supposed to be the hero. Because, look, if Tony could do all of the stuff — if he was balanced and quick and thinking on his feet, and great with a gun — then what’s he doing? It’s like the guy should be out running around doing his own thing.

TVLINE | Right, right.
So, I think he’s always limited by the guarantee of the sort of team dynamic. And I do see that changing. I have looked ahead … and I’m really excited to put Tony into the next phase of his being. I’m ready for whatever that is as an actor. As a character, this was the year where he kind of “met himself,” and I think we’re going to see big changes for him next fall. Enormous changes, I would think.

TVLINE | Let’s talk about this season’s new addition to the team, Ellie Bishop (played by Emily Wickersham). Was it kind of a relief for you to read that this new character was married? Was a part of you like, “Whew, I’m not going to have to pull off that whole angsty, ‘Will they, won’t they’ thing all over again?”
I don’t think, actually, that it really matters if she’s married or not, in the world of the stories that we tell. And I don’t know how happily married she can possibly be, she’s always with us! I would say one of the weirdest things about the whole season is that nobody seems to have noticed that she’s attractive. And I don’t mean Tony, I mean nobody. I think they were between a rock and a hard place bringing her in, because they didn’t want her to be romantic in any way with anyone, yet they hired a beautiful woman. I think the producers and writers and actors, we’ve all been working to figure out, “How does the Bishop character work best?”

TVLINE | I know you keep in touch with Cote. Did you give her any “playful guff” last summer when the rest of you were left to field all these questions about what was going on?
Gosh, no. I had a great conversation with Cotes before she went off to do The 33, the miner movie. And I’m looking forward to seeing her in the next few days, now that we’re wrapped and I actually have my life back. I’m going on a nice, long walk with her and catching up. Cote is an artist and is a really talented actor, and I am excited to see what her journey has been like. It’s hard when you’re in production. I mean, can barely make time to talk to Matt Mitovich, let alone somebody who is five time zones away.

TVLINE | You talked about your hopes for Season 12, for Tony and the “next phase of his being.” Would you like to see him eventually have another serious love interest, or would you rather leave people to believe that he’s carrying a torch and waiting for Ziva? What do you think serves the character the best?
I believe that he has put Ziva in a drawer. The difficult part for him is that he said, “Come with me” and she said, “I can’t do that.” He was rebuffed, he was rejected, and the sting of that has been there for him all season. I don’t know how other people, including the viewers, see it, but that’s just how I processed it. And it was bittersweet because as Sting would say, “If you love someone, set them free.” Maybe Sting didn’t coin that, but he certainly put it to music. Tony had to let her go to follow her dream and her passion — and that didn’t include him. That’s a bitter pill to swallow, but he knows that she’s following her dream. And that couldn’t make him happier, right?

TVLINE | Right.
So, I think now what’s happening is Tony has to figure out, “Hey what’s my dream?” For DiNozzo, this is the next iteration of his thinking, which I think he’s coming around to. It’s interesting that Season 11 ends the way it does, because it reminds me of some other seasons on other shows that I’ve been on, where you’re like, “I think I see a change coming….” Again, to me, what’s really important is that the show has a classic, standard operating procedure. But sometimes you’re not recording Exile on Main Street anymore, you’re making Tattoo You. That is the evolution of everything. I’m very excited to see what we do next. The nice thing is that I think we can move forward and really come out of the box with some surprises in Season 12. And look, I love being surprised more than anybody, so I’m going to do my best, and I know everyone else is going to do their best. I think the season ends on an incredibly high note. Honoring Ralph, the fun little capers in the south of France, [last week’s] episode about the homeless vets…. Those are a great three episodes of “classic NCIS.” And my promise to you is that we will make some excellent NCIS in Season 12. That’s my promise to everyone, that I’m going to raise the bar.

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Calm down. Not the end, but the end of a stellar 11th season that started out with a major cast member (Cote de Pablo) departing, eventually added a new regular and, to makes things even more challenging, included a two-part backdoor pilot that could extend the NCIS franchise to New Orleans.

Executive Producer Gary Glasberg and his creative team are focusing on the last four episodes of the season at the moment, including a finale that focuses on the death of Leroy Jethro Gibb’s father, played by actor Ralph Waite, who passed away earlier this year.

In the following Q&A, Glasberg gives us a peek into not only NCIS Season 11 Episode 21 – which features a guest turn by Kelli Williams – but also what we’ll see in these final episodes, along with what makes the concluding one so very different…
Kelli Williams Guest Stars

TV Fanatic: In general, how do you feel this time of the year moving into another season finale? Does it get easier since you’ve been at this place before?

Gary Glasberg: It never gets easier because in the nature of 24 episodes a season it’s exhausting. But I’ll tell you what we’ve done this year, which is a little different: we made the decision not to do a cliffhanger and we did that intentionally because this year has been challenging.

NCIS Season 11 was challenging with Ziva’s departure, the arrival of Bishop and then we did the New Orleans episodes… so there’s been a lot going on. We decided to not go the route to leave everyone hanging because enough has happened this year already so we wanted to focus on our team and the strength of our team. This was a unique situation that came up and we decided to focus on the passing of Ralph Waite.

TVF: Let’s talk about that and how that affected where you’re going with the last episodes of the season.

GG: It was significant enough for us to step back and say that we wanted to say goodbye to him properly. So we put our heads together and decided we wanted to do a story about Leroy Jethro Gibb and Harmon’s character. We do some flashbacks, we get to see him as a child and we get to see him with a young Ralph Waite, who we’re in the middle of casting right now.

I think it will mean a lot to the audience and it’s definitely meant a lot to us from a storytelling standpoint. It’s a nice episode, it’s an emotional episode, it’s an informative episode and it gives people some closure.

TVF: Will we see a different side of Gibbs that we don’t typically see? He’s usually such a rock for everyone else.

GG: Well, It’s definitely new territory for him and, honestly, I’m really anxious to see how Harmon plays it. We’re prepping it right now and we start shooting in a few days and I’m really excited about it.

TVF: I know this week’s episode involves the guys on a cleanse so I’m wondering if you went on a cleanse to inspire the story?

GG: I did not. I need to cleanse but we gathered around the [writers’] room and joked about it and thought it would be a fun thing for Tony and McGee to bond over. It’s really just to do something that was light and entertaining to counterbalance a very serious storyline that involves sexual assault so we were looking for something that was minor that we could handle in a superficial way and still have fun at them and it wouldn’t detract from the bigger story.

TVF: You already have consultants on the show but did you approach this week’s case differently? Is it a true story?

GG: The story that we tell specifically isn’t true but the Navy did come to us and say that this was an arena that they wanted us to try. It’s very delicate, very sensitive subject matter and a very serious subject matter so we really wanted to do it justice.

Scott Williams, who wrote the episode, spent a lot of time researching and the real NCIS has a real significant number of agents who specialize in this so he talked to them so we really tried to approach it as realistic a standpoint as we could.
NCIS Promo – “Alleged”

TVF: I know in the “Shooter” episode (airing April 29), Abby has a story so I was curious since we usually see her in a more comedic light does that episode give Pauley [Perrette] a chance to do a little heavier dramatic work?

GG: Absolutely! We’ve got some really talented, gifted actors on this show and anytime we can put them into situations that stretch them a little bit, we look forward to doing that. These last episodes for the entire cast gives them the opportunity to use some muscles that they don’t get to use all season long. My goal with these last episodes, and this is true of Season 12 as well, is to really focus on the team and get back to the basics, as they call it, of the stories and why people watch NCIS. The emotion, the characters…that’s what these episodes will focus on.

TVF: Tony has a big story in the penultimate episode, which I saw in the press compared to the movie, Three Days of the Condor. Is that a personal story or a case story or a little of both?

GG: No, that’s more of a case-driven story and it was something that I’d been talking about and playing with for a few months now. I wanted to send Tony off on an assignment that lands him in Marcé and Tony has some experience in France and it’s always fun for us, and a challenge for us, to try to recreate it. We’re in the middle of filming that now and I’m pleased with what I’ve been seeing and I think it’s going to be fun. it’s a lot of action and intrigue and Michael is doing great.

TVF: Is DiNozzo by himself or is there another team member with him?

GG: He’s the only one who goes and everyone else is involved but from back home.

TVF: What about the Jimmy and Breena’s adoption story. Will that progress anymore this season?

GG: Yes, it does come up again and people will hear some things and learn some things and it will continue.

TVF: In terms of McGee, Delilah is in Dubai but will she pop back up or at least hear about her?

GG: There’s more discussion of Delilah. You won’t see her but I certainly hope you might be seeing her in Season 12.

TVF: What’s Bishop’s piece in these last episodes? She’s been such a great addition to the show and the NCIS team this season.

GG: Like I said, I really wanted to emphasize the group and emphasize the team and emphasize the strength of NCIS in its entirety. I like to think that Bishop is finding her niche and the team is relying on her and her expertise when it comes up and that’s really the extent of it. I look forward to giving her other stories and other moments as we move into season 12 but right now it’s all about the group.

TVF: If the New Orleans spinoff moves forward, how are you going to be able to juggle all this, Gary? I know NCIS keeps you very busy by itself!

GG: [laughs] You know what? I’ve learned the power of delegating and if New Orleans moves forward I will continue to stay very focused on the Mothership and then we’ll find some fantastic people to help me out but we’ll have to see what comes of it.

NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

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Time-traveler, starship captain, and now a king?

Scott Bakula guest stars this week and next on “NCIS” as Special Agent Dwayne Cassius Pride, known as “King” to his underlings. If the episodes do well, we might be seeing him and his team on a regular basis in a new spinoff, “NCIS: New Orleans,” next fall.

We spoke with “NCIS” showrunner Gary Glasberg about writing a backdoor pilot like this, the connection between the two shows, and the real-life guy Bakula’s character is based on.

“NCIS” is headed to New Orleans — how was shooting there?
It was fun; we had a great time. We hooked up with some fantastic crew. There’s such an energy and a tone and a specific vibe to what that city is. Our intent in the four days that we were there was to just capture as much of it as we could. We actually didn’t do any interiors at all. It was all street stuff in the French Quarter and out in the bayou.

Scott Bakula’s character is based on a real-life person, isn’t he?
Yeah, this all started last year when I started doing some research for what was supposed to just be a sweeps episode. I learned there was this little office, this little NCIS office in New Orleans, because there’s such a significant military presence there. This office has existed, but it was really run for 25 years by this one man, Dwayne Swear.

And in meeting him, he’s this larger-than-life, eccentric, fantastic guy who I just couldn’t get enough of. And to think that he was running things on his own down there for a long time with people coming in to help him was different and unique. Suddenly, what started as a sweeps episode turned into more.

But yeah, the whole Bakula character is based on Dwayne Swear, and we spent a lot of time together. He’s a terrific guy and was very helpful as a consultant as well. He actually came out and spent a couple weeks with us here in Valencia when we were filming interior stuff here. And of course [he] was with us on set down there as well.

What goes into making a successful spinoff? Or what have you learned to avoid a failed spinoff?
It’s a challenge. I hope it’s successful; we’ll have to see what happens. But the goal here was really to come up with something that connected with the characters I’m fortunate enough to have here on “NCIS,” to come up with a backstory for the Pride character that connects directly to Gibbs. The idea that they were probationary agents back in the day together when they first joined NCIS, then grew up in the ranks together.

So the relationship between Gibbs and Pride goes back all the way to their origins. A good portion of the first episode is about solidifying that relationship, understanding what that relationship is, and hopefully giving people a sense that these guys have known each other a long time.

I think that’s an important part of the trust and the connection of establishing who the new characters are, and then wanting to spend time with them. The characters and the chemistry of this family at “NCIS” is so important, and hopefully people will feel the same thing about the new characters as well.

Pride seems a little more rough-and-tumble than Gibbs.
A little bit. I think he wears his emotions on his sleeve a little more. Gibbs tends to keep his guard up and plays his cards close to the vest, and Pride is very different from that. He shows his emotions; he speaks his mind very quickly. That’s absolutely what separates them in terms of personality. Both [are] very accomplished federal agents who handle things very differently.

Why New Orleans? It might be the hardest city in the country to set a show, because if the locals don’t like it, they’ll let you know.
I have no doubt about that. But we’ve had a lot of people that were involved with it from day one who are locals. We’re doing everything we can to capture a lot of the spirit and the tone and the sensibility in the series.

It’s part of why we made the effort to get down there and capture the backdrop of the city as best we could, and even incorporate this tremendous music presence in the show. We ended up hiring local street musicians, put them on the street, filmed with ambient sound running in the background. There’s always music present throughout the show. It’s another element of things that we wanted to capture.

We really hope we managed to capture even just a little bit of what the city is. Whether you’re talking about the food — we have scenes that take place at Mother’s, which is an iconic breakfast spot — there’s constant mention of restaurants. And the important elements of what the city is, I hope we were able to include.

When you were talking about the show to the writers, aside from the music, what did you give to guide them? How would this show be different from “NCIS”?
These are two episodes of our series, of “NCIS.” Right now, it’s just the two episodes, and I wrote both of them. So it was really me throwing myself into things, visiting down there, doing some research, gaining weight, enjoying the music and the people — meeting some really fantastic people who have just been super enthusiastic about having us there and hopefully coming back.

Did you see Dwayne and think of Scott Bakula for the role, or have you been wanting to do something with Bakula for a while?
Scott’s a terrific actor. He’s a television personality, and I’ve loved him and been a fan of his for a long time. Then when he read the script and responded to it and wanted to sit down and talk about it, I just got really excited about the idea of finding someone who could bring the character to life.

The fact that it’s based on this real individual made it more inviting for Scott, and Scott got to spend time with Dwayne Swear. And every day, he embodied the character of Pride. It’s been terrific with him, and now, looking at the two episodes, he is this character and it worked out great.

When you have your “NCIS” team and you have this completely new team, is it weird to plop them down face-to-face like that? Is there ever a Sharks vs. Jets vibe, or a mirror universe: “Hey, you’re me, but with a Southern accent”?
Not at all. The intention was always, because of the connection between the Gibbs character and the Pride character, to make it feel like this relationship has existed for years and years and years. I’m fortunate enough and blessed to have actors involved in “NCIS” here who are total team players and anxious to make this work on every level. They embrace the idea of having these new people come in, and we found terrific actors to play the New Orleans roles as well. So it’s been a really great combination, and it just worked out really nicely.

How do you know when you’ve got the right team? What was it about Bakula, Lucas Black, Zoe McLellan, and CCH Pounder that says to you, “These are the guys”?
All you can do is roll the dice and hope that your instincts — and working with a bunch of people from the studio and the network and everyone chiming in — actually work. There’s no denying the fact that the chemistry of the “NCIS” group is a big, big reason why the show continues to be a success. I don’t know if it’s possible to ever capture lightning in a bottle like that, but I can try to put together the strongest group of actors I can, and I think we really accomplished that.

Scott Bakula, like we said: just warm and fantastic and fun and outgoing. Lucas Black, who I call my Alabama Steve McQueen, [is] just grounded and real and focused and can do the action and the drama. Zoe McLellan, who is confident and driven and fun and has a spark and a mischief to her. And then this extraordinary actress in CCH Pounder, who instantly steps in and makes it all real for you. And you totally buy her as the medical examiner down in New Orleans.

It just all worked, and you get a few days into filming and you look at each other on set and think, “Wow! We got something.”

So when you’re looking for cities to plant spinoffs, do you just look for places with really good food and music?
[Laughs.] I look for cities where I want to go and enjoy myself! Nah, “NCIS” is a unique setup where it’s all about knowing that there’s a significant military presence there. The Gulf functions as an important part of the Navy. Not only for ships and Navy air stations all the way from Pensacola across into Texas, but then you’ve got the Marine headquarters. The Reserve headquarters is in New Orleans. So you’ve got a lot going on for them.

To know that this little office has been there for “NCIS” and was run by this individual just made a lot of sense. And then to have the backdrop of New Orleans on top of that was just added fun for me on top of the stories I can tell.

“NCIS” airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS; the New Orleans two-parter, “Crescent City,” airs March 25 and April 1.

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It is time on NCIS for Rule 38: “Your case, your lead.” Will we see Tony DiNozzo in the lead again? –Ann

Cross your fingers, because you just might get something resembling a Tony-centric Season 11 finale. As show boss Gary Glasberg told me at TCA, “I’d really like to focus on and come up with something for the season finale that has a strong Tony element to it – in fact, we’re about to sit down and talk about that.”

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