NCIS Season 12 Latest News: Russian Mercenary Will Be Season's Main Bad Ass!
Everyone in the NCIS cast will be returning for Season 12, except for Cote De Pablo who plays Ziva David who left the long-running police procedural TV drama series for undisclosed personal reasons. Sean Murray (Tim McGee), Pauley Perrette (Abby Sciuto), David McCallum (Dr. Ducky Mallard), Rocky Carroll (Dir. Leon Vance), and Michael Weatherly (Tony DiNozzo) whose contracts expired this spring, have already signed new deals that will have them on Season 12 and Season 13. Lead star Mark Harmon (Gibbs) and co-stars Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer) and Emily Wickersham (Ellie Bishop), who are all on different contract cycles, will also be returning next season.
The NCIS Season 12 premiere which will air on September 23, will feature scenes that will take place in Russia. According to executive co-producer Gary Glasberg, as reported by TV Fanatic, "The first episode starts in Russia and brings Gibbs and McGee to Russia and then a crisis happens and we're off and running. It sets up an adversary for them that will track through the whole season." There will also be a main adversary for the whole season and to portray him, says Glasberg, is "an actor named Alex Veadov. He's a lovely man and he plays a Russian mercenary named Sergei Michnev. Very excited about that. He's a terrific actor and excited about the potential of where he can go and the potential to cross over into the New Orleans show, as well."
Glasberg revealed more of what's in store for next season. "Episode 3 is a Ducky origins story," he says, and "Steve Binder is writing that and we're going to learn things like why the bow tie and all kinds of stuff. It will be a lot of fun. There will be a case that goes along through it, but it brings Ducky and Bishop back to England. So we're very excited about that." So who will be playing the young Ducky in the origin story? According to TVLine, it will be British actor Adam Campbell who does bear an uncanny resemblance to a young David McCallum. For next season, Glasberg added, "We'll also keep the Delilah story alive with McGee. And Tony, in episode 4, is going to meet a woman. So we'll start to layer that in."
