NCIS is coming up on a major milestone.
This March, the long-running police procedural will celebrate airing its milestone 500th episode, almost 23 years after it first premiered.
In its 23 seasons, the CBS series has had many beloved faces become fixtures of the show, just as they have had many of them leave, however luckily for fans, they're not strangers to seeing many of their favorite characters return too.
© CBS via Getty ImagesNCIS mainstay Brian Dietzen, who plays Jimmy Palmer, teased as much while speaking with TVLine about the upcoming 500th episode, revealing: "This season has been just terrific. It's been really fun to do. We do have some returning faces, and I can't say, obviously, who they are, otherwise it would spoil it for people who enjoy the surprise like I do."
"One of the things that makes NCIS so great is that we do have familiar faces from the past that could pop up at any moment," he went on, and emphasized: "And that is what's going to happen over the next several shows."
And though fans will have to wait until March 17 to see the milestone episode, the cast celebrated it just this week, after NCIS went on its break.
© CBS"This last week has been a whirlwind because we've been fortunate enough to have the good folks from the studio and from the network come visit us, and from Paramount. And you realize how many episodes 500 is," Brian noted.
He further reflected: "We're just working day by day up in Santa Clarita. You kind of lose the forest for the trees because we're just kind of going up there doing scene by scene and episode by episode trying to make good shows happen, so, you don't really understand the totality of it until someone says, 'OK, everybody stop. Let's just stop. Let's eat some cake and talk about what it means for 500.'"
"It's pretty rare air now that I'm looking around the television landscape. You go, 'Man, there's not a lot of shows that are doing this sort of thing.' So I feel really humbled and really honored that I have a part in that," he added.
Prior to going into season 23, executive producer Steven D. Binder also opened up to TVLine about how the show was hoping to prioritize the characters' personal lives as storylines more than ever before.
© Getty Images"We really want to get to everybody in a big way. I know people always say, 'I watch the show for the characters' — that was always our thing — and I really want to make this a character-forward show in a way we haven't seen before. So, if you're invested in these people, this is going to be the season for you," he said in July.
The move is not unlike the direction of the Austin Stowell led prequel series NCIS: Origins, which premiered last year, and which focuses on a young Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the character Mark Harmon starred as on the franchise's original show for close to two decades. Though certainly packed with action and drama, the show primarily focuses on giving fans an intimate glimpse into Gibbs' early days as a special agent, and the personal events that shaped his role on NCIS.
