Leroy Gibbs (Mark Harmon) has had quite an emotional journey throughout his time on “NCIS.” Since 2003, the special agent had been a stalwart on the series, leading his team and often being the voice of reason when everyone else reaches a dead end on a case. It’s impressive for an actor to stick around on the same series for well over a decade, but toward the end of his tenure, fans could begin to see the cracks that it was the beginning of the end of Harmon’s time on “NCIS.”
Around Season 18, it began to look more and more like Gibbs had one foot out the door. It often seemed like he was ready to leave his team, and after years of investigating despicable crimes, he merely wanted a piece of the simple life. However, there was one bit of foreshadowing hinting that Gibbs wasn’t going to be around much longer that didn’t necessarily sit well with some fans.
The Gibbs tombstone was too much for some fans
Fans knew Season 19 of “NCIS” would likely be the end of the line for Gibbs, but they didn’t exactly know how his departure would occur. For a while, it seemed like the beloved character would bite the dust, and you can’t precisely blame fans for being worried when one episode depicted Gibbs visiting his family gravesite, where there was a marker with his name on it.
Granted, Gibbs didn’t actually die in the season. Instead, he had the chance to retire and spend some of his leisure time fishing, but that didn’t stop some fans from being worried sick for a short period of time. After the episode aired, some fans took to Twitter to voice their displeasure, such as @tracyplantlady writing, “Him visiting Shannon & Kelly with his name on tombstone? What’s that supposed to mean? Is that foreshadowing? DON’T KILL GIBBS I BEG Y’ALL.”
@Aninha_2303 had a similar thought: “Oh no! NO! Please tell that the graves of Shannon and Kelly aren’t a clue of Gibbs’ future! Please, DON’T KILL HIM!!” While fans didn’t have to watch Gibbs die, they did have to say goodbye one way or another as the character left the show not long after the episode aired. But at least there’s always a possibility he could return down the road, perhaps for the “NCIS” series finale.
