When you log some serious time playing a character, it’s likely they’ll go through a series of changes, professionally and personally. For the last twenty years or so, Sean Murray’s character Timothy McGee has been a part of the same squad on NCIS. The character is the last remaining original member of a team that has seen agents come, go, die, or retire (or both). Formally called the Major Case Response Team, McGee has been a part of it since Season 1 and a main character since Season 2.
Now heading into Season 22, the character might be finding himself exchanging his title from Special Agent, to Deputy Director. In an interview with TVLine, showrunner Steven D. Binder explains how McGee finds himself contemplating the promotion. “Being the investigative hound that Tim is, he’s going to sniff something on the way to this journey,” Binder says. “He’s going to see that something is not right in the halls of government around him.”
What’s interesting about McGee’s potential jump in rank, is that he both has filled in as Director twice but he turned down taking over the role of the MCTR after the departure of Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He had cited he didn’t want the paperwork, but as a Deputy Director, McGee’s life would be even less field work and more paperwork. Only time will tell what the real motivation is.
How H as ‘NCIS’ Changed Over the Years?
Both the flagship show, NCIS, as well as the franchise as a whole have changed a lot since the pilot more than twenty years ago. Spin-offs have come and gone, and the franchise is ever evolving. The franchise currently has one of the most robust lists of spin-offs on network television. CBS has created 5 spin-offs, only one of which is still currently on the air, with another set to premiere soon. That’s not for lack of trying. All series had at least three seasons, with NCIS: Los Angeles lasting a whopping 14 seasons.
The future of NCIS, as we wait on news for when exactly the sophomore season of NCIS: Sydney will air in the US, is actually looking backwards. After Mark Harmon left the flagship show, it was unclear if we’d ever see Gibbs again. We will, in a way, as Austin Stowell takes on the role in NCIS: Origins. Set in the 90s, the series will focus on Gibbs in his early days as a federal agent, reeling from the deaths of his wife and daughter. It’s a plot point that has haunted Gibbs from the beginning of his character on NCIS. Now fans will get to see what that grief looks like fresh, while he also has to work his way up to being the headslapping MCTR leader we saw for nearly two decades.
NCIS Season 22 premieres on October 14. You can catch up on your favoite McGee moments now on Paramount+