Rocky Carroll of NCIS Breaks the Silence on Coming Out After Vance’s Death
NCIS just killed off a main character in episode 500 – and the cast member opened up about how it “wasn’t” their choice to leave the show.
On the Tuesday, March 24, episode of the CBS series, Rocky CarrollLeon Vance’s character, is shot by a CID agent. At first, it looked like Vance was wearing a vest but ended up bleeding out from the fatal wounds.
“No, it wasn’t my choice,” said Carroll, who has been playing NCIS since 2008, he said TV Insider. “It was presented to me that the studio and the network wanted to do something amazing, really big, and something that would send shockwaves through NCIS fans and the public.”
Carroll recalled executive producer Steven D. Binder pitching the idea.
“Well, the agency, NCIS, as we know it, is in great danger and in danger of disappearing, of being folded into another agency because there is a sinister character working behind the scenes to destroy this agency. And Director Vance finds out who it is,” he explained. “And in the process of saving the agency, he loses his life. It’s a great story. Want to hear more? And I thought, ‘Wait, let’s go back a minute. Go back to the part where you say in saving the agency, he loses his life.’
The actor was able to understand what led to the decision, he added, “I think that the drama and the director for me, after 23 years, have told the whole story, and many of them have been told more than once. So, when everything was laid out, and when they told me the whole series of story and story, my first thought, obviously, was a true story.”
While thinking about his time NCISCarroll said he didn’t expect to play Vance for almost two decades.
“It was a tough game. And I was very proud of the episode,” he added. “There’s too much good to be depressed about.”
NCIS sent Vance up with a montage of him through the years with Gibbs (Mark Harmon), Tony (Michael Weatherly), Experience (Cote de Pablo), Ducky (David McCallum), McGee, Abby (Pauly Perrette), Bishop (Emily Wickersham) and current NCIS the group.
“It wasn’t like, ‘Well, you’re upset, but you can’t be that way in the episode,'” Carroll continued. “If this had happened in my third season as Director Vance, it would have been a very different feeling. But after 18 years, after my character lived two lifetimes in the TV world, and I said, ‘Playing a character for 18 seasons on one of the most watched TV shows in the world is like living 105.’ In my country, it’s like when you go to a memorial service for someone who lived to be 105, your thought is, yeah, I’m sorry he’s gone, but I mean, geez, he lived to be 105. That’s how I feel about my character.”
Binder also weighed in on the shocking move.
“There have always been real issues,” he told the outlet. “It’s never easy to say goodbye to any of our characters, but we wanted to honor Rocky and his legacy on the show as best we could — in this case, giving his life so his agency could live on.”
Looking ahead, Binder promised that the team “will be sad,” saying, “But we felt it was important that, at the end of the episode, the team focused on Vance’s sacrifice as much as they focused on their loss. Vance died to protect them all. And they will honor that by putting one foot in front of the other, and continue their mission to protect and defend their country.”
NCIS airs on CBS Tuesdays at 8 pm ET.
