Emily Wickersham reflects on her NCIS exit three years later. Joining the cast in Season 11 as Eleanor “Ellie” Bishop, an NSA agent who stepped in after Ziva David’s departure, Wickersham became a key figure on the show. However, she left in Season 18 and hasn’t returned since.
In a recent appearance on the Off-Duty: An NCIS Rewatch podcast, hosted by former stars Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo, Wickersham opened up about her departure. She revealed that leaving the show marked a significant period in her life, more so than she initially expected.
“It took a while,” Wickersham shared. “I left the show and found out I was pregnant a month later. It was a mix of decompressing and adjusting to life without work. As you both know, NCIS consumes your life, and suddenly having that time back was a big change.”
She added that she moved to New York soon after, where her boyfriend lives, making it a “weird and wonderful” time. “Leaving something that’s been such a huge part of your life is strange,” she said. “I don’t know if I was fully ready, but it happened, and it was amazing. It was time to move on, and I guess this was what I was meant to move on to. So it was good.”
