In celebration of the upcoming 1000th episode of the franchise, a new celebratory NCIS universe video is released with snippets from Gibbs and others. The video is a mix of clips from all shows in the NCIS Universe, even including those that have already concluded, such as NCIS: LA and NCIS: New Orleans. While the milestone is celebrated across the franchise, its story will go down in the mothership show, NCIS season 21, “A Thousand Yards” episode, which will focus on NCIS Director Leon Vance.
Based on the official synopsis for NCIS’ 1000th episode, Parker’s team and their allies will have to band together against a threat from the past. Joe Spano’s Tobias Fornell is set to return in a guest capacity, which is a welcome development, considering that he is one of the best recurring stars of the series. That being said, his appearance significantly decreases the chances of Gibbs’ return in NCIS’ 1000th episode. Previously, Mark Harmon was already a no-show during Ducky’s send-off outing, which was massively disappointing, considering the pair’s long friendship.
One of the reasons for Harmon’s absence was the idea of wanting to save his return more substantially. As exciting as is was seeing DiNozzo, his appearance was far too brief. He only had interactions with Jimmy Palmer and Tim McGee. Ideally, he would have been part of the episode’s case, but since Tony and Ziva will eventually front an NCIS spinoff, it was merely a way to re-introduce Weatherly to the franchise. Harmon’s return needs to be bigger and longer, perhaps via a multi-episode arc. Sadly, they can’t also do that in NCIS’ 1000th episode because Gibbs isn’t the focal point of the story.
Despite this, the door is open for Gibbs to return. NCIS just needs to find the perfect opportunity to make the most out of the character’s time back in the DMV. Beyond the mothership series, however, Harmon will be involved in the expanding universe again with the upcoming Gibbs prequel series called NCIS: Origins. The actor will narrate the events of the show, as well as co-executive produce with his son, Sean Harmon.
