The NCIS franchise is going strong despite the upcoming end of one show, largely thanks to the original series continuing to deliver. While there have been rumors that longtime NCIS star Mark Harmon will be leaving the series after the current 18th season, that isn’t stopping the CBS action drama from dominating Tuesday night ratings.
Even though the fates of both Gibbs and NCIS are currently unknown, the CBS series is still taking over the ratings every week. According to THR, NCIS approached its season highs this week, leading a primetime sweep for the network. The series delivered 10.26 million views for the latest episode on April 6, just short of its same-day season high of 10.35 million for the season premiere. It had a 0.96 rating among adults 18-49 and nearly tied the high of 0.97 for the January 26 episode.
NCIS has been around for almost two decades now and Mark Harmon is still playing the iconic character of Gibbs that he first originated in 2003 on JAG. However, depending on whether or not NCIS will be returning for Season 19, Harmon might not come back after all. His current contract for NCIS expires at the end of the current season and while he’s reportedly in talks with the CBS Studios production company and CBS network to come back for “a handful of episodes,” his future as Gibbs is still up in the air.
In 2018, it was rumored that Mark Harmon would be leaving NCIS following a health scare the previous year. There were also similar reports of the actor leaving NCIS earlier that year alleging that he would exit the series after Season 15. Harmon is a notable actor and has been the face of NCIS since the show’s very beginning and it would be hard to imagine it without him, given everything he’s done for the franchise. But with the recent reports of his possible exit and question of whether or not the series would be moving on to Season 19, NCIS still topping ratings after all these years is good to see.
Even though the future of NCIS is unknown and NCIS: New Orleans is ending after this current season, NCIS: Los Angeles still seems to be going strong and CBS is also currently developing a Hawaii spinoff for the NCIS franchise. No matter what happens to both Gibbs and NCIS, the franchise seems to be going on for years to come. Hopefully fans will know soon whether Mark Harmon will be returning as Gibbs and put the rumors to rest once again. But if he does leave after Season 18, how exactly will this nearly two-decade story wrap up? It will be interesting to see which direction the series will go.
NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS!
