With 18 seasons under its belt, many characters have kicked the bucket over the years. After all, they are risking their lives for a living. But even as some of the show’s most beloved characters bit the dust, the show kept going strong. Gone but of course, not forgotten, these are all the NCIS characters who’ve died.
NCIS Deaths
Christopher Pacci
NCIS Special Agent Christopher Pacci, who helped the Major Case Response Team, succumbed to a fatal gunshot wound in Season 1. Avenging his death becomes one of Gibbs’ main goals throughout the next seasons and come Season 8, Gibbs finally gets his wish when he manages to shoot Pacci’s killer, Amanda Reed/former Navy Lieutenant Commander Hamilton Voss. Before Pacci’s death was avenged, his murder rocked the OG NCIS fandom. In Season 1, Pacci was pursuing the murder of Ltn. Commander Hamilton Voss alone; ultimately, Pacci learned that Voss faked his own death and had a sex change operation, turning into a transgender woman named Amanda Reed. When Pacci found this out, Amanda Reed shot him in the neck.
Caitlin Todd
Caitlin Todd, NCIS Special Junior Agent to the Major Case Response Team, died in the line of duty while saving Gibbs’ life in Season 2. Her sacrifice earned her a Presidential Medal of Freedom Award posthumously. Her unexpected killing was a bitter pill for NCIS viewers to swallow.
Tom Morrow
Like most other NCIS agents on this list, former NCIS director Tom Morrow didn’t die from natural causes, but rather, died in the line of duty. Though Morrow had already retired by Season 3, he was still obsessed with finding justice—even if the cost was his own life. After helping NCIS track down an escaped MI6 agent-turned-prisoner, Morrow was shot. While his killing didn’t occur on-screen, it was rather traumatic to watch Gibbs and Fornell realize Morrow was in danger, only to find him dead in his own home. Though Gibbs and Fornell hypothesized multiple different killers, it ended up being Trent Kort.
Paula Cassidy
NCIS Special Agent at the Pentagon and Guantanamo Bay Paula Cassidy followed in Caitlin Todd’s footsteps and also suffered a tragic death. Killed in a suicide bombing in Season 4, Paula was a true-blue NCIS agent ’til the bitter end. She sacrificed herself to protect her fellow co-workers.
Jennifer Shepard
Jennifer Shepard made NCIS history when she became the first-ever female NCIS director. Following in the footsteps of Morrow, her predecessor, Jenny Shepard was killed in action in 2008 on the Season 5 finale. Shepard was shot during an all-out brawl when a gunfight erupted in an abandoned diner in the Mojave Desert. Ultimately, four assassins took her down.
Michael Franks
NCIS fans first met Michael “Mike” Franks in Season 3. He was killed off in Season 8, because no NCIS character is totally safe (except maybe Gibbs). Franks, former NCIS Supervisory Special Agent who directed the Major Case Response Team, was stabbed to death by the Port-to-Port Serial Killer. While that was certainly a difficult fictional death to grieve, NCIS viewers did get a bit of a treat when Mike Franks “came back” as a ghost and continued to mentor Gibbs even after death.
Ned Dorneget
In Season 12, NCIS said a tragic goodbye to Ned “Dorney” Dorneget, who sacrificed his life when civilians faced a bomb threat. Dorney, a probationary agent who eventually worked his way up to the Cyber Operations Division, died while on a mission in Cairo, Egypt, and set off Gibbs in the process. After Dorney died, it sent Gibbs into a bit of a spiral as he reminisced on all the NCIS agents he’d lost over the years.
Ziva David
Well, we’re technically counting this one, but there’s a little bit of a telenovela-esque twist. Ziva David was killed in Season 13 of NCIS in an attack, though it happened off-screen. Rumors of David faking her death continued to swirl until Season 16, when David came back, after all, revealing she faked her own death so that Sahar wouldn’t come after her. Missed the NCIS: LA finale? Find out which two characters left NCIS: Los Angeles during the Season 12 finale.
