Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS episode “All Good Things” are ahead!
Earlier this week, NCIS suffered a devastating loss, as Rocky Carroll’s Leon Vance was killed off after 19 seasons. I will fully admit that I cried when I saw this this tragic twist happen in the CBS procedural’s 500th episode, but the compilation of Vance moments from past episodes shown at the end of “All Good Things” also made me think of when the character first appeared back in Season 5. As it turns out, what ended up happening with Vance deviate significantly from what NCIS originally had planned for him, and I’m glad the show ended up going down a different path with him.
Now, obviously no one could have predicted back in 2008 that Rocky Carroll would play Leon Vance for nearly two decades, let alone that NCIS would still be on the air. But while discussing all things NCIS with Variety, showrunner Steven Binder shared that Vance wasn’t supposed to be as regularly present on the show as he ended up being. Binder recalled:
Article continues below… Rocky was not supposed to be in that many episodes. He was so good that every year he was in another episode [more than the last]. I don’t remember the [initial] number, but let’s say 10, and then it’s 11, 12 and 13, and then 10 years later, he’s in almost all the episodes. But the original plan was to not use him all that much at all, and he just was such a fantastic addition and such a great actor.
Leon Vance was the third NCIS Director introduced on the show. The first, Alan Dale’s Tom Morrow, only appeared in seven episodes across the show’s first three seasons, though he later retuned for a handful of appearances between Season 10 to 13 until being killed off in the episode “Return to Sender.” After Morrow exited his position at the start of Season 3, Lauren Holly’s Jenny Shepard succeeded him and definitely had a more significant presence on the series, but was killed off in Season 5’s penultimate episode. Vance was introduced five episodes earlier, so it was no surprise that he took Shepard’s place.
I think most, if not all NCIS fans can agree that it’s great the show’s team didn’t stick to using Vance in a more limited capacity. Otherwise, there’s a good chance that Rocky Carroll wouldn’t have stayed on NCIS for nearly as long, and we might’ve gone through several other NCIS Directors by now. Instead, Vance held down the fort exceptionally all these years, which Steven Binder attributes to Carroll’s professionalism and talent. He continued:
And so when you had him in a scene and you knew he was gonna show up, have a take, know it, do it cold, do it awesome, and be a joy to work with, yeah, you tend to get written in more, when you’re like that. Which is not to say that everyone else isn’t great too. But he’s top of the heap.
Rocky Carroll got to play Vance a lot longer than most TV shows last, and the good news is that just because his character has gone to the great beyond doesn’t mean he’s done with NCIS. Carroll will continue directing episodes, including one coming up in later this season. NCIS is also a show where deceased characters frequently come back in flashbacks or ghost/hallucination form, so maybe a few years down the line, Vance can resurface in one of those ways.
For now, there are still plenty of NCIS Season 23 episodes to get through on the 2026 TV schedule, all continuing to air on CBS Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET. The show has also been renewed for a 24th season, but if you’d rather continue looking back on good times, feel free to stream all of Rocky Carroll’s appearances as Vance with your Paramount+ subscription.
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