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Leon Vance found himself in a precarious situation during NCIS‘ milestone 1000th episode. The NCIS director took a bullet to the back and had fans wondering: Is Rocky Carroll leaving NCIS? Keep reading to find out.
NCIS is CBS’ decades-long police procedural that focuses on the personal and professional lives of special agents in the Naval Criminal Investigation Service’s Major Case Response Team, which investigates criminal activity involving the United States Navy, Marine Corps and their families. The series premiered in 2003 and it is the third-longest-running U.S. primetime drama currently on air. Its success has led to several different spin-offs, including the 14-season hit NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: Hawai’i and NCIS: Sydney, among others.
Played by Rocky Carroll, Leon Vance is the director of NCIS and a former special agent. He was first introduced during Season 5 as a temporary NCIS director. He was made the permanent director the following season after Jenny Shepard’s (Lauren Holly) death. In Season 10, his wife Jackie (Paula Newsome) was shot and killed, leaving him a single father to daughter Kayla and son Jared.
The 1000th episode of the NCIS franchise, which aired on April 16, 2024, focused on the dangers of the job and saw Vance get shot in the back by a sniper. Below, find everything there is to know about Vance’s fate and whether or not Rocky Carroll is leaving the show.
Is Rocky Carroll leaving NCIS?
Is Rocky Carroll leaving NCIS? The answer is no. Despite suffering serious injuries, Vance survived the shooting and Carroll does not appear to be leaving the show anytime soon. In fact, the near-death experience made Vance and his estranged son Jared closer.
The 1000th episode opened with Vance visiting his wife Jackie’s grave and bumping into Jared (now played by Spence Moore II). The latter hadn’t been seen on the show since Season 10 and his relationship with Vance was strained due to his mom’s death, which he blamed on NCIS. The pair were having an argument at the cemetery when Vance was suddenly shot in the back. He was rushed to the hospital and required emergency surgery for lung and heart damage.
Thankfully, Vance pulled through and survived, but he has a long road to recovery ahead of him. By the end of the episode, however, he and Jared were in a much better place. “It’s not until you realize that you could lose that person that you’re able to put aside whatever your grievances are with each other and realize that we’re just lucky to have another day together that I can say to you how much I do love you and how much I miss being connected to you,” Carroll told TV Insider of the episode, adding: “I hope that’s what this episode sheds light on.”
Vance may have survived the 1000th episode, but he will likely be out for a few episodes as he recovers. Carroll confirmed that he will return for the Season 21 finale, teasing that the closing episode is “going to be really good.” He told the outlet: “It’ll be good to have Vance back in the office. I don’t want to give away too much, but he’s walking wounded, but he’s back.”
Carroll also revealed that another team member will be at risk in the finale, hinting that the episode will end with a character’s fate hanging in the balance. “We won’t be trying to save Vance from a burning building. I’m not nearly in as much trouble in the season finale as I am in the 1000th episode. But there is a global threat and there is another character on the show that—things don’t go as planned and we’re not exactly sure how things are going to end for one of our characters,” he explained. “I’m going to leave the audience guessing as to which one, but once again, the team has to circle the wagons and rally.”
We know that Vance is in the clear, but viewers will have to tune in to see who’s life will be at stake this time.
Episodes of NCIS can be streamed on Paramount+.
For more on NCIS, check out this gallery on the cast’s salaries per episode.
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