After being introduced in Season 1 as a recurring character, Sean Murray’s Timothy McGee has maintained a series regular presence on NCIS since Season 2. Following Mark Harmon’s departure as Leroy Jethro Gibbs early in Season 19, Murray became the CBS show’s top-billed actor, and there are no signs of him leaving the Naval Criminal Investigate Service. We’ve learned a lot about McGee over the last 20 years, but ahead of NCIS Season 21 kicking off, it’s been revealed that the character’s going to be hit with a huge shock regarding information he didn’t even know about.
NCIS showrunners Steven D. Binder and David North informed TV Line that one of NCIS Season 21’s episodes will see McGee dealing with a shakeup regarding his family tree, with the men saying:
All of our characters on NCIS know that family is more important than anything. But after McGee takes a genealogy DNA test, he’s shocked to find out he has more family than he realized.
NCIS certainly hasn’t shied away from exploring McGee’s family over the years. His sister Sarah (Troian Bellisario) played an important role in the Season 4 episode “Twisted Sister”; we met his father John (Jamey Sheridan), a four-star admiral, in “Squall,” although he later died in “House Rules”; and we also learned that McGee had a close relationship with his maternal grandmother Penelope (Lily Tomlin) when he was growing up. Between these people and McGee now having his own family, with he and his wife Delilah (Margo Harshman) having two kids, McGee’s personal life is a book that’s opened every now and then.
But in addition to the NCIS Season 21 resolving that Nick Torres-centric storyline that was set up in the Season 20 finale, as well as delivering a Ducky tribute episode for the late David McCallum, we now some time will be carved out for Timothy McGee learning some new family history. So the question now is, what exactly does he uncover? Does this pertain to his mother or father’s side of the family? Will McGee meet someone from this previously-hidden corner of his family? Will this plot point continue to be explored in later episodes, or will this only be brought up the one time?
Clearly the fact that I have so many questions about this specific NCIS episodes means I’m intrigued by what it will have to offer. Unfortunately, it’s unclear when this episode will air in Season 21, though I have to imagine it will be in the first half rather than the latter. Because of last year’s writers and actors strikes delayed production, Season 21 will only consist of 10 episodes, making it the show’s shortest season yet, surpassing Season 18’s 16 episodes.
NCIS Season 21 premieres Monday, February 12 on the 2024 TV schedule, the same that that NCIS: Hawai’i premieres. The procedural franchise also has NCIS: Origins, a prequel about Leroy Jethro Gibbs, in development, and it remains to be seen if NCIS: Sydney will be renewed for Season 2 (I certainly hope is).
