NCIS star explains how David McCallum’s death changed the series

NCIS: Secret Service Stories Spoilers for season 21 follow.

NCIS star Brian Dietzen has explained how the death of David McCallum radically changed season 21.

McCallum died last year at the age of 90 while planning for the new season was still underway, so the producers decided to create a special episode highlighting the character Ducky and honoring his influence on the series.

The production team turned to McCallum’s longtime co-star Brian Dietzen – who plays chief medical officer Dr. Jimmy Palmer – to co-write the episode “The Stories We Leave Behind” with Scott Williams.

In this emotional episode, the NCIS team processes Ducky’s death by working on one of their unsolved cases – involving a woman’s father who was dishonorably discharged from the Marine Corps.

Although Brian had written for the series in the past, he told TVLine that he had no plans to write for the shortened 21st season until McCallum’s untimely death.

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“Before David died, we had this work stoppage due to the WGA and SAG strikes, so I said to Steven Binder and David North, our showrunners, ‘I don’t have to write this year,’ because we only have 10 episodes,” he explained.

“I didn’t want to get involved myself. But then when David died, Scott Williams, my co-writer, volunteered to do that episode and said to me, ‘I thought it was only right that you co-write with me.’ And then everyone in the room said, ‘Yeah, that’s perfect. That’s how it should be.’ And I said, ‘Absolutely, it would be an honor.'”

The episode focuses on Jimmy’s reaction to his colleague’s untimely death, including the revelation that Jimmy was the one who found Ducky dead.

“Because Jimmy worked so closely with Ducky for several decades, it made sense to have much of the story retold from his perspective and memories,” said Brian.

“And of course McGee was there with him, but what was really important to Scott and me and the whole crew was that we honor Ducky’s relationship with the larger team. And that doesn’t just mean the current team of Parker and Knight and Torres and McGee and Kasie, but the teams that came before that.

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“We wanted to make sure that some of those memories and some of those loved ones and family members from previous NCIS teams were represented and that his relationship with those characters was honored as well.”

This special episode, titled “The Stories We Leave Behind,” will air on Monday, February 19.

NCIS: Secret Service Stories will be broadcast on CBS in the US and returns on February 12th with season 21. Seasons 1-20 will be streamed on Disney+ In the United Kingdom.

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