When it comes to television work, Jennifer Aniston will always be best known for playing Rachel Green on Friends, though these days, Apple TV+ subscribers can see her playing Alex Levy in The Morning Show. But had history unfolded differently, she could have left a notable mark in the world of procedurals too. It’s previously been rumored that Aniston had been up for a key role within the NCIS franchise, and while that’s now been confirmed, it turns out it wasn’t for the character we’d previously heard about.
Back in November 2023, as part of an NCIS 20th anniversary retrospective for THR, Charles Floyd Johnson, an executive producer on that show and JAG, mentioned he believed that Aniston’s name was “floated” as someone who could play Special Agent Caitlin Todd, who was ultimately played by Sasha Alexander and was a series regular in the first two seasons of NCIS (which can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription). NCIS casting director Susan Bluestein acknowledged that Aniston’s name could have been discussed, but she didn’t remember the part being offered to her. Well, as it turns out, Aniston was actually being looked at to play Vivian Blackadder, a character from the JAG episodes “Ice Queen” and “Meltdown,” which served as NCIS’ backdoor pilot.
This information was revealed tonight in NCISVerse: The First 1,000, An Entertainment Tonight Special, which, as is obvious by the title, commemorated the NCIS franchise collectively reaching 1,000 episodes across the flagship show and spinoffs Los Angeles, New Orleans, Hawai’i and Sydney (which has been renewed for Season 2). For those unaware, Vivian, played by Robyn Lively (Blake Lively’s half-sister) was an FBI agent who transferred to NCIS after the USS Cole bombing, as her brother was killed in the attack. During the JAG episodes, she worked closely alongside Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Michael Weatherly’s Tony DiNozzo, but she increasingly frustrated the former by being more obsessed with getting revenge rather than following protocol with the case.
By the end of “Meltdown,” it’s implied that Gibbs either fired Vivian or she went back to the FBI after she blew an operation, and Robyn Lively never reprised her on NCIS. Back in 2003, shortly before NCIS premiered, show creator Don Bellisario told TV Guide that Lively wasn’t brought back because “she was a little soft for this kind of role.” So had Jennifer Aniston been cast as Vivian instead, it’s entirely possible she also would have only appeared in two episodes, be it for the same reason or because she fetched too high a price to stay on as a series regular. On the other hand, if Bellisario and his team liked what Aniston did as Vivian, perhaps a deal could have been reached to keep her, even if, like Sasha Alexander and select other former members of the NCIS cast, she only stuck around for a few seasons.
It’s a fun ‘what if’ scenario to imagine, but, of course, NCIS has managed to do quite well for itself in the 21 years since it premiered on CBS. Season 21’s seventh episode, a.k.a. the franchise’s 1,000th episode, airs next Monday at 9 pm ET. Look through our 2024 TV schedule to learn what else there is to look forward on the small screen soon.
