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NCIS: Michael Weatherly reveals difficult start with co-star Mark Harmon 

Michael Weatherly left the show in 2016


tony gibbs© Photo: Rex
Emmy Griffiths
TV & Film Editor
January 20, 2023
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NCIS star Michael Weatherly was on the hit show for 13 years alongside his co-star Mark Harmon, but it sounds like the pair didn’t see eye to eye when they began working together on the show. 

The actor, who played Tony DiNozzo on the hit show before his exit in 2016, previously explained that they were polar opposites, telling The Futon Critic: "Mark Harmon and I were on different poles. I was Antarctica, he was the North Pole and we were just looking down there going, 'What is up with your polarity? What’s going on? The water goes down the drain the other way for me.’"

WATCH: Michael Weatherly makes reference to rarely-seen son in brooding clip

He continued: "And he was confused by my presence right from the get-go. When CNN Showbiz Today or one of those things asked what was the best part about doing the pilot when we were doing the upfronts, I said, 'I got a rubber gun and I got a fake badge.' And Harmon looked at me like, 'That is your CNN answer?' [Laughs.] And I was like a little kid who had one too many bowls of Count Chocula." 

gibbs mark harmon© Photo: Rex

Gibbs and Tony

The pair went on to become friends, with Michael telling Mashable that he "learned a great deal at [Mark’s] side," adding: "[I] look to the future with, you know, taking a lot of that Mark Harmon wisdom with me." 

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ncis tony© Photo: Rex

Michael left the show in 2016

The actor also revealed that he gained a greater understanding of Mark after becoming the lead star on his own show Bull, explaining: "It’s been very illuminating and given me a great deal of insight and regard for what Mark Harmon was doing all those years. When I was like, ‘How come he doesn’t have as much fun as the rest of us?’" 

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