I’m really moved by how NCIS actor Brian Dietzen wants Jimmy Palmer to die after 20 years on the show

After 20 years NCIS: Secret Service Stories, the actor who plays Dr. Jimmy Palmer, Brian Dietzen revealed how his character will dieand I found it moving. The actor has been with the show since 2004, when he made a guest appearance towards the end of the first season. While Palmer originally appeared sporadically as Dr. Mallard’s assistant, his role eventually developed into a permanent fixture on the show, with Jimmy eventually becoming the team’s chief medical officer. Brian Dietzens NCIS: Secret Service Stories The character plays a crucial role in the series, but the actor has thought about how the series will end.

While the franchise is focused on NCIS: Secret Service Stories Season 22, Brian Dietzen is one of the oldest cast members on the show and I think he is one of the most important. He and his co-star Sean Murray are the only remaining series regulars in NCIS: Secret Service Stories Season 1. I am sad to think about the loss of the character Jimmy Palmer, but I think the way Brian Dietzen wanted it gives his death a beautiful meaning. The show has lost many major characters and I am always sad when my favorite characters go. Jimmy Palmer is certainly no exception.

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NCIS is one of the longest-running TV series and is currently in its 21st season. Over the years, many characters have said goodbye.

Brian Dietzen said he wanted Jimmy from NCIS to get ALS

Dietzen was part of a panel with Wilmer Valderrama, Michael Weatherly and Cote De Pablo

In June 2024, a group of NCIS: Secret Service Stories Actors met for a panel discussion at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival 2024. The panel consisted of Wilmer Valderrama and Brian Dietzen from the current cast of NCIS: Secret Service Stories and former cast members Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo from the upcoming spinoff NCIS: Tony and Ziva. During the panel, Wilmer Valderrama hints that he wanted his character Nick Torres dead. “in a hail of bullets.” For the character of Jimmy Palmer, however, Dietzen had a more serious death in mind. Dietzen wants Jimmy to get ALSalso known as Lou Gehrig’s syndrome.

Dietzen confirmed that he had thought about Jimmy’s death before. I found it moving that Dietzen had thought about his character’s death, in terms of how It could spread positive awareness for a cause that is bigger than himself and his character. While there were many moves NCIS: Secret Service Stories Deaths over the years as characters leave the show, I think that what Brian Dietzen designed for his character is a way to make the show more meaningful than a police crime drama and a character drama, and that NCIS: Secret Service Stories must support the narrative at all costs.

Why Dr. Jimmy Palmer’s death from ALS would be so significant in NCIS

Brian Dietzen’s character is a knowledgeable doctor

Jimmy’s death from ALS would be significant because Jimmy is a doctor and scientists, typically in the control of human anatomy. Jimmy has dealt with hundreds of corpses in NCIS: Secret Service Stories and can solve many world problems through scientific processes. Brian Dietzen mentioned this on the panel and I think it shows that the actor has thought about his character’s ultimate development. It makes sense that Dietzen has a personal connection to the role after 20 years on the show and would want to give his character Jimmy a meaningful send-off after two decades on television.

What stuck in my mind was Dietzen’s vision of how his character struggles with the disease over time. The actor suggested that the character might initially try to cover up his inadequacies, and I think it would be deeply moving to see Jimmy experience that on screen.. If Dietzen can pull off an authentic portrayal of the illness, which I think the actor is capable of, this could be one of the most serious deaths the show has ever seen. I think it’s appropriate that Jimmy’s character is battling something internal and personal rather than dying in the line of fire.

How Jimmy’s illness would affect his role in NCIS

Brian Dietzen’s character would become the source of loss

Jimmy’s ALS disease will change his role in NCIS – The Movie. A central part of Jimmy Palmer’s character development, especially in the last few seasons, is that he has to bear a heavy grief. He said goodbye to MCRT members Eleanor Bishop and Gibbs in NCIS: Secret Service Stories Seasons 18 and 19. Most importantly, Dr. Palmer also lost his wife Breena to COVID-19 in season 18. I think the most significant change in Dietzen’s character is that he has to stop focusing so much on his loss and shift his perspective to the loss that others will experience after he is gone.

The shift from Jimmy being the victim of loss in his world to the source of loss would be a wake-up call. He would be forced to focus entirely on how grief would affect his daughter Victoria and prepare her to find her way in the world after the deaths of both her parents. Suppose the show decided to subject Dietzen’s character to even more loss. In that case I think it would be important for Jimmy and Victoria to experience a new chapter of happiness in the next seasons before his character experiences another tragedy.

Brian Dietzen’s other NCIS role can make Jimmy’s story even more moving

Dietzen could co-write the NCIS episodes dealing with Jimmy’s death

Brian Dietzen writes for NCIS, and he could co-write the episodes dealing with Jimmy Palmer’s illness to enhance their impact. I think it would be a natural decision to have Dietzen contribute to the narrative of his character’s deathand it’s clear that the actor has already thought about it. Since it was Dietzen’s idea, I think it’s crucial to consult him on how he imagines the narrative developing around his character’s death. In my opinion, Brian Dietzen has already proven that he can contribute to the development of his character.

Dietzen was co-author NCIS: Secret Service Stories Season 19, Episode 13, “The Helpers”. In it, the character Jimmy Palmer talks to his daughter Victoria about his impending death. Jimmy and Kasie were exposed to a deadly biotoxin in the lab that they thought was alcohol, but turned out to be a deadly gas. As the team tries to find the antidote, Jimmy reveals uncomfortable truths about his death, as Victoria had come to work with him and witnessed his collapse. The main message Jimmy delivered in “The Helpers” is: What matters is not how they die, but how they live.

Jimmy has a tragic past, but Dietzen handles it consciously, and the actor could have brought the same care to his character’s death. Brian Dietzen imagined his character leaving the series with death rather than a happy endingwhich I think Jimmy deserves after all the loss he has experienced. Jimmy’s death, like Breena’s, would be the result of a condition that he, even as a doctor, had no control over. That is, if Jimmy in NCIS: Secret Service Stories, The actor can further expand on the narrative that how a person lives is more important than how he dies.

Source: People, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

NCIS: Secret Service Stories

NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) focuses on the sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team that must work together under high-stress situations. Special Agent Alden Parker, a quirky former FBI agent who solves his cases with calm professionalism and sharp, sarcastic charm, leads the NCIS team, which also includes NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee, an MIT graduate with a knack for computers who has now risen to the rank of Senior Field Agent; the charismatic, unpredictable and resilient NCIS Special Agent Nicholas “Nick” Torres, who has spent the majority of his career on solo undercover missions; and the sharp, athletic and tough NCIS Special Agent Jessica Knight, a formidable REACT agent specializing in hostage negotiations and high-risk operations. Assisting the team is the naive Jimmy Palmer, who has risen from assistant to fully licensed medical examiner and now runs the morgue; and forensic scientist Kasie Hines, Ducky’s former assistant. Leading the operation is NCIS Director Leon Vance, an intelligent, highly trained agent who can always be relied upon to challenge the status quo. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, these special agents investigate all crimes related to the Navy or Marine Corps.

Pour

Sean Murray, Wilmer Valderrama, Katrina Law, Brian Dietzen, David McCallum, Mark Harmon, Rocky Carroll, Gary Cole, Joe Spano

Release date

23 September 2003

Seasons

22