Rocky Carroll has been on NCIS since 2008, so he’s seen a lot of actors come and go from the popular CBS series. For many of those years, he worked alongside Mark Harmon, with their characters, Leon Vance and Leroy Jethro Gibbs, frequently butting heads. Following Harmon’s departure from NCIS, Gary Cole’s Alden Parker took over as the new team leader early into Season 19, and the dynamic they share is pretty contrasting to what Vance had with Gibbs.
Carroll discussed this while speaking with CinemaBlend, and I’m in complete agreement with him about what makes their two relationships so different.
Carroll recently directed Season 22's “Baker’s Man” (which can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription), which marked his 25th time at the helm on NCIS. Because this episode that aired a few weeks back on the 2025 TV schedule was so Parker-centric, I asked him what is his favorite thing is about working with Cole, and then what he likes most about Vance and Parker’s dynamic. After telling me about how he and the Office Space alum have bonded over their past as stage actors, Caroll had this to say about their characters:
I think the dynamic between Vance and Parker is slightly different between the dynamic between Gibbs and Vance because Gibbs and Vance's relationship was really forged through tragedy. There was much more of a bumpy road for them to finally get to some sort of point where they had a mutual respect and friendship for each other, I think with Parker, Vance having been in that position for so long, and the running joke now [with] the NCIS technical advisors, they're like, ‘The director of NCIS, nobody's ever lasted 17 years in that in that position. But you're the longest tenured director of NCIS.’
Leon Vance was introduced midway through NCIS Season 5, and following the death of Jenny Shepard, he took over as director of the agency. Initially he and Leroy Jethro Gibbs had a tense relationship, with neither men fully trusting the other. As the years went though, they warmed to each other.
Rocky Carroll explained to me this stemmed in large part from them bonding through trauma. Gibbs lost his first wife and daughter to drug dealer Pedro Hernandez (which has been explored in recent months on NCIS: Origins), while Vance’s wife Jackie died as collateral damage in NCIS Season 10 when Eli David, Ziva David’s father, was assassinated at their home. Parker came into this narrative at just the right time.
Having that tenure, I think Vance is now a little bit more receptive, and having experienced death in his own life. His wife died, the issues that he was having with his son and his daughter, that I think this relationship with Parker came at the right time, that these are both men who got a little more settled into who they are.
Fast-forward to the last several years, Leon Vance has had time to grieve the loss of Jackie, as well as deal with the issues he had with his daughter and son (the latter of which was chronicled in the NCIS franchise’s 1,000th episode). He’s in a much better headspace now and is even in an official relationship with Lena Paulsen, though it’s hard to say when we’ll see her again.
In any case, given that Alden Parker, though not without his issues and complicated past, also being relatively well-adjusted these days, Rocky Carroll thinks it’s fortunate that Vance and Parker met when they did. What Vance and Gibbs had was fun to watch for more than a decade, but the back-and-forth between Vance and Parker has made for a good change of pace.
New episodes of NCIS air Mondays at 9 pm ET on CBS. While it hasn’t been announced yet if the show will be greenlit for a 23rd season, this procedural franchise currently also has NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney for your viewing pleasure, as well as the Paramount+-exclusive NCIS: Tony & Ziva at a yet-to-be-revealed date.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
