Why NCIS Has Me Thinking We Won’t Meet Vance’s Replacement For A Long Time

Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS episode “Fleeting” are ahead!

A new episode of NCIS has premiered on the 2026 TV schedule, but frankly, I know I’m not alone in still recovering from what happened last week. The death of Rocky Carroll’s Leon Vance was one of the biggest shakeups in the CBS procedural’s history, with showrunner Steven Binder saying it was necessary to once again show NCIS’s “real stakes.” So now we’re waiting to see who will permanently replace Vance as NCIS Director, though if some dialogue in “Fleeting” is any indication, it may be a long time until we meet them.

This week’s NCIS episode was a hectic one, as it followed the team investigating a sailor being stabbed and tossed into a trunk during Fleet Week. You can see how that investigation unfolded, and how poisoned tattoo ink factored in, by streaming “Fleeting” with your Paramount+ subscription. Most importantly, it ended with the show’s main characters gathering in Vance’s office to toast the man who meant so much to them, both professionally and personally, with a bottle of whiskey he’d been saving for a special occasion.

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As touching as this was to watch, I’m more focused on something that Gary Cole’s Alden Parker said towards the beginning of the episode. He informed McGee and Knight that DOD sent a memo instructing that Vance’s office be cleared out by Friday, right in the middle of Fleet Week. McGee wondered what the rush was since the interim NCIS director “hasn’t even stepped foot in the building,” to which Parker said:

This sounds to me like NCIS will hold off on introducing the new person to sit behind what was once Leon Vance’s desk for the long haul for weeks, if not until when Season 24 premieres in the fall. That’s a sharp difference than how Vance was handled all the way back in Season 5. He was introduced midway through the season as the Assistant NCIS Director, then wasted no time taking over the agency after Jenny Shepard was killed.

I’m hoping that Timothy McGee becomes the new NCIS director, as Sean Murray’s character could have gotten the Assistant Director job last season had it not been for Gabriel LaRoche’s interference, so it’s not much of a leap to envision him being qualified for the top position. Maybe that could still happen, but if we’re taking what Alden Parker said seriously, I’m not confident it will happen during Season 23. At best, I could see McGee being promoted in the Season 23 finale so that we can spend the summer imagining what kind of leader he’ll be in Season 24. However, if someone brand-new will succeed Vance, then I think it’s more likely that the show won’t bring them in until the Season 24 premiere.

Or maybe I’m misreading this whole thing, and Leon Vance’s permanent replacement will enter the picture as soon as next week. We’ll just have to wait and see as new episodes of NCIS air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Meanwhile, I’ll continue mourning the loss of one of my favorite characters from the show. Like I said, it’s only been a week!