According to TVLine, Harmon’s contract only requires him to appear in a handful of episodes. An insider told the entertainment site, “It’s going to be in the low single digits.” Another source said, Harmon will only make “a few” appearances throughout the season. A CBS rep declined to comment for this story, which is to be expected as this isn’t news that fans want to hear, but the fact—as was reported earlier by Variety—that Gary Cole is in conversations to take on a major role in season 19, could mean he is possibly coming in as a senior agent to head Gibbs’ team. Harmon was missing in action in a great many of the final episodes of season 18, as well, when Gibbs got “indefinitely” suspended from NCIS for attacking a man who was abusing dogs and telling Director Vance (Rocky Carroll) that he was only sorry he hadn’t taken it further. In the finale, Gibbs had the boat he had been making in his basement out on the water—we still don’t know how he gets it out—when it blew up. Initially, it appeared as if he was dead, but then we saw movement so we know he survived. It is guess work at this point, but Gibbs may have tried to fake his death so that the serial killer he is tracking with Marcie (Pam Dawber) thinks he is dead and goes back to business as usual, so Gibbs can hunt him down and have him arrested. After 18 years on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m., this fall, NCIS will be relocating to Mondays at 9 pm ET/PT, where it will lead into the new spinoff NCIS: Hawai’i. Next, Everything We Know About NCIS: Hawai’i, the Newest Edition to the CBS Franchise
