The eighteenth season of NCIS, an American police procedural drama television series, originally aired on CBS from November 17, 2020 through May 25, 2021. The season only contained 16 episodes, making it the shortest in the series, and includes the series' 400th episode. The season was produced by Belisarius Productions and CBS Studios.
NCIS revolves around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The series stars Mark Harmon, Sean Murray, Wilmer Valderrama, Emily Wickersham, Maria Bello, Brian Dietzen, Diona Reasonover, Rocky Carroll, and David McCallum. The season is Bello's last as a series regular, as she left after eight episodes. The season finale serves as Wickersham's final appearance as Eleanor Bishop, leaving the series after 8 years. Several late-season episodes feature Pam Dawber, Harmon's real-life spouse.
Cast and characters
Main
Mark Harmon as Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) of the Major Case Response Team (MCRT) assigned to Washington's Navy Yard (episodes 1–10) / suspended (episodes 11–16) Sean Murray as Timothy McGee, NCIS Senior Special Agent, second in command of MCRT Wilmer Valderrama as Nick Torres, NCIS Special Agent Emily Wickersham as Eleanor "Ellie" Bishop, NCIS Special Agent Maria Bello as Dr. Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane, NCIS Senior Resident Agent and Operational Psychologist (episodes 1–8) Brian Dietzen as Dr. Jimmy Palmer, Chief Medical Examiner for NCIS Diona Reasonover as Kasie Hines, Forensic Specialist for NCIS Rocky Carroll as Leon Vance, NCIS Director David McCallum as Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, NCIS Historian
Recurring
Joe Spano as Tobias Fornell, Private Detective and former FBI agent
Margo Harshman as Delilah Fielding-McGee, DoD Intelligence Analyst and McGee's wife Pam Dawber as Marcie Warren, investigative journalist Laura San Giacomo as Dr. Grace Confalone, psychotherapist Nick Boraine as Merriweather, NCIS target Adam Campbell as Young Ducky Sean Harmon as Young Gibbs Hugo Armstrong as Eugene Coyle, from the NCIS Inspector General's office Juliette Angelo as Emily Fornell, Tobias Fornell's daughter Elayn J. Taylor as Odette Malone, owner of Ziva's private office and former CIA Operative Victoria Platt as Veronica Tyler, NCIS Special Agent Jack Fisher as Phineas, Gibbs' former neighbor Karri Turner as Micki Kaydar, Phineas' aunt
Guest stars
Thomas F. Wilson as Angus DeMint, author "Journey of Adventure." Steven Bauer as Miguel Torres, Nick Torres' father William Allen Young as Moses McClaine, U.S. Secretary of Defense Zane Holtz as Dale Sawyer, NCIS Special Agent Tijuana Ricks as Pamela Walsh, CIA Agent Chris Browning as Tom Dalton, NCIS REACT Special Agent Katrina Law as Jessica Knight, NCIS REACT Special Agent
Episodes
Production
Development
The season was ordered on May 6, 2020. On June 3, 2020, Steven D. Binder announced that the writers had begun working on the season. Scripts initially written for cancelled Season 17 episodes were integrated into this season's second and fourth episodes, "Everything Starts Somewhere" and "Sunburn." The exit of Maria Bello's Jacqueline Sloane, which would have occurred in the unproduced Season 17 finale, was integrated into the season's eighth episode, "True Believer," though similarities to the originally planned storyline remain undetermined. On August 12, 2020, it was announced that CBS Television Studios had signed a deal with the law enforcement advisory group 21CP Solutions, to consult on its crime and legal dramas, which includes NCIS. 21CP Solutions will help the series to more accurately portray law enforcement; this comes after the George Floyd Protests, which caused the television industry to rethink their portrayal of law enforcement. On September 21, 2020, it was announced that the season would start by exploring where Gibbs, played by series star Mark Harmon, disappeared to during the episode "Musical Chairs" from the previous season, before returning to the present day. On October 27, 2020, it was announced that season would comprise sixteen episodes.