“This 500th episode could have been a whole series of flashbacks, a look back, and maybe a couple of surprise characters or whatever. But nobody expected this to be to be what it ultimately became,” Carroll tells Parade in an exclusive interview.
Carroll says he couldn’t have been more surprised when he was approached last November and told his time as Vance was coming to an end, but in the end, he admits he came to appreciate it.
That said, Carroll will still be a part of the NCIS family. One of the perks of his years on the show was being given the opportunity to direct episodes, so he will continue to do that. In fact, just a month after Vance’s on-screen demise, Carroll was back on the set in the director’s chair.
During his chat with Parade, Carroll went into more detail about how he found out about Vance’s demise, what he sees happening next for NCIS, his dream job, and more.
[Showrunner] Steven D. Binder had to talk to you about this ahead of time. When he approached you, what did he say?It wasn't like before the season started that I got a phone call saying, "Hey, this is something that we're thinking about." I think somewhere during this current season and the 500th episode looming, the powers that be -- the network, the studio, the executives -- everybody said, "OK, 500th episode, we’ve got to do something. We can't just do another show where we do a lot of clips and flashbacks, and a look back on the 500 episodes. How do we do something that makes a compelling episode, something that our diehard fans haven't seen before, instead of just taking them down memory lane for an hour? What can we do to make a huge splash for this 500th episode?"So, about somewhere in early November, Steve pulled me aside on the set and said, "Hey, we've come up with an idea for the 500, you got a minute?" I'm like, "Yeah, sure. Tell me all about it.”So, he proceeds to tell me that the storyline is that NCIS is in danger of collapse and that the agency as we know it is teetering on the brink of disaster and there's this nefarious character working behind the scenes to undermine and sabotage the agency, and the one person who finds out and is able to save the agency is Director Vance. And in the process of saving the agency, he loses his life. It's a terrific story. Do you want to hear more about the plot?I'm thinking, "Wait go back to the part again about him saving the agency and losing his life," and as he's telling me about this plot, I remember sitting there thinking, "I feel like I'm having an out-of-body experience right now," as he's telling me this, because what I'm realizing as we're talking is that after almost two decades -- 18 seasons for me -- is that this character is finally full circle. This character now has a beginning, a middle and an end.
How do you think this will shake up the show? Leon Vance took over when Jenny Shephard (Lauren Holly) was killed and he’s been the longest-running director. He brought stability.We will find out very quickly. I think it's going to shake things up quite a bit. The first thing that the executive producers said to me is, "We don't want to replace this character with another director. We don't think this character is replaceable. We don't want to replace you.”Even some of the real NCIS agents and some of the former NCIS directors that I've met over the years who come to visit our show, they all say the same thing. They’re like, “You're the longest tenured director in history, either real or make-believe.” Most NCIS directors maybe last three or four years. No one spanned almost two decades, so the one thing that I took as a real badge of honor is that as Steve was telling me the plot, he was saying this is not an attempt to replace this character, because the character is irreplaceable. So, there may not be anybody in that chair, or even if there is, they won't have the same impact.A lot of things have happened over these last 18 years. This character that Don Bellisario created was never intended to be a major component to the cast. He was supposed to be this leadership figure who comes in every once in a while and has to lay down the law or make a decision.As Steve Binder said to me so eloquently, it's because of who you are as an actor and what you brought to this character that we didn't kill this character off 10 years ago, because the thought of this as a storyline has been around for a very long time, but we couldn't find the time to do it. Now, we're 23 seasons in, and it's like, who knows how many seasons we're going to have left? If we're going to do something like this, if we don't do it now, it'll never get done.I don't know what's going to happen, how NCIS as a series will actually come to an end. Something tells me it won't be satisfying. It's kind of like how Seinfeld came to an end and everybody was, "What was that? That's the payoff we got for being on this journey so long.” I hope that's not the case with our show, but at least with the character of Director Vance, there was a payoff. There was a very final sense of finality with this character.So, as a creator and as an actor, I love the storyline. The first thing Steve said to me is, “I'm writing the episode and this episode is going to be a tribute and a love letter to your character.” I feel like that's what we did.
One of the intriguing things about this episode was the angel who comes to help Vance make his transition into the light is actually Adam Campbell, who has previously played a young Ducky and does so again.He was the Grim Reaper. One of my favorite memories of doing this episode was that it was the first time that we found a way for young Ducky, who was basically a memory character in Gibbs' past, to somehow be in the same space with Vance because all of the episodes that Adam Campbell has done in the past have always been flashbacks for Gibbs' life before he and Vance even knew each other, so for them to come up with the idea that young Ducky and Vance would meet in the afterlife made so much sense.This character wasn't just created for this episode. Young Ducky existed, so our fans knew who he was. I think if David McCallum were still with us, that reveal would have been David McCallum, but I thought what a brilliant way to not only pay tribute to the legacy of my character but to pay tribute to the legacy of Ducky to have the Angel of Death be the young Ducky.
Do you know what you’re going to do next?My dream job would be to be the next Anthony Bourdain and travel around the world and eat and drink and get paid to do it. Director Vance goes to the Caribbean and becomes the next Anthony Bourdain. That's the real goal. But I have no fears or worries as far as acting because it's all I've ever done.
Do you have a favorite memory?Wow, there are so many of them. As an actor, I think where I really felt that I was a part of this NCIS family was the first time that Mark Harmon, Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly pranked me. My character used to have a toothpick in his mouth. And there was a very serious scene, where I was supposed to be reading them the riot act and they all secretly had toothpicks in their mouths. When I turned to face them, they were all with their backs to the camera, but I could see their faces, and they all had these toothpicks in their mouth just to see if they could get me to the break on camera. That was when I knew that I was a part of this ensemble. That was their "Welcome to our club."
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