**NCIS Season 21: Tribute Episode to David McCallum**
As NCIS fans eagerly anticipate Season 21, it’s important to note the significant changes that have been made following the death of beloved star David McCallum. McCallum, who portrayed Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, passed away at age 90 while the new season was still in the planning stages. In response, the producers decided to create a special tribute episode to honor his character and his profound impact on the show.
This heartfelt episode, titled “The Stories We Leave Behind,” was co-written by McCallum’s longtime co-star Brian Dietzen, who plays chief medical examiner Dr. Jimmy Palmer, and Scott Williams. The episode sees the NCIS team grappling with Ducky’s death as they work on one of his unsolved cases involving a woman whose father was dishonorably discharged from the Marines.
Dietzen, who has written for the show previously, initially had no plans to write for the shortened Season 21, which will feature only 10 episodes due to the WGA and SAG strikes. However, McCallum’s passing changed everything. “Before David passed, we had that work stoppage with the WGA and SAG strikes, so I had said to Steven Binder and David North, our showrunners, ‘I don’t need to write this year,’ because we only have 10 episodes,” Dietzen explained to TVLine. “But then when David passed away, Scott Williams, my co-writer, volunteered to do this episode and he said to me, ‘I thought it was only right that you co-write with me.’ And then everybody in the room said, ‘Yeah, that’s perfect. That’s what should happen.’ And I said, ‘Absolutely, I’d be honored to.'”
The emotional core of the episode will focus on Jimmy Palmer’s reaction to Ducky’s death, including the poignant detail that Jimmy was the one who found Ducky. “Since Jimmy worked so closely with Ducky, for a couple decades, it made sense that a lot of the story would be retold through his eyes and his memories,” Dietzen shared. “And certainly, McGee had been there with him as well, but what was really important to Scott and I, and to the whole crew, was that we honor Ducky’s relationship with the larger team, not meaning just the current team of Parker and Knight and Torres and McGee and Kasie, but also the teams that came before.”
To achieve this, the episode will ensure that memories and relationships from past iterations of the NCIS team are represented, honoring Ducky’s connections with characters from the show’s long history. “We wanted to make sure that some of these memories, and some of these loved ones and family members from past iterations of the NCIS team, were represented, and that his relationship with those characters was honored as well,” Dietzen added.
“The Stories We Leave Behind” is set to air on Monday, February 19, offering a moving tribute to both the character of Ducky and the legacy of David McCallum on NCIS.
