‘NCIS’ Finale Leaves Gibbs Fighting For His Life, But Is Mark Harmon Really Leaving The Show?

NCIS may have lost its lead, Mark Harmon, after his character, Gibbs, was shot three times in the show’s season 12 finale.

Did NCIS Really Kill Off Mark Harmon’s Gibbs?

The procedural’s season finale, “Neverland,” aired Tuesday, May 12, and saw Gibbs, Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Joanna (Mimi Rogers) travel to Iraq to trace down Luke (Daniel Zolghadri) and ‘save’ him from a terrorist group. In the end, it turns out that Luke didn’t need or want saving, and he shot Gibbs two times – once in the knee and once in the chest. The episode ended with an ominous “To Be Continued.”

While Gibbs’ fate has not been made official, early buzz that a beloved character would die on the season finale could be interpreted as confirmation of his death. During a recent appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden, Harmon confirmed that a “beloved character” was being killed off in the finale, saying, “It’s not my choice, number one, but I think anybody is replaceable.”

Executive producer Gary Glasberg was hesitant to confirm or deny any rumors, but did say that the show will be changed by Gibb’s shooting, whether or not the character survives. “Regardless of the outcome, any time that Gibbs or one of our family members is in danger or injured, it significantly affects everyone. We’ll have to see the long-term effects and the psychological effects, but they’ll undoubtedly, as they always are, be there for each other. Then we’ll see where it takes [us] as we move forward to the coming episode,” Glasberg said.

With NCIS officially picked up for a 13th season on CBS, Glasberg revealed the season premiere will pick up where the finale left off. “We’ve got a lot of questions that need to be answered and then some impending danger that we need to deal with when we get back,” Glasberg teased. Harmon has not been confirmed as returning for Season 13.

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