5 Most Shocking NCIS Deaths, Ranked

Not every character in a police procedural can live to tell the tale. But even after 23 seasons, the deaths of "NCIS" still tend to pack a mind-blowing punch. Whether writing off fresh-faced probies or established agency directors, the "NCIS" creative team seems to follow one simple principle: Always go for what's unexpected.

One of the likeliest contributors to the long-running success of "NCIS" has always been its ability to stay unpredictable. Although the loss of some characters inflicted heavier emotional damage than others — looking at you, Breena Palmer — only a few of them were surprising enough to leave impacts that ripple through the series even years after the fact. From least to most shocking, here are the five "NCIS" character deaths that absolutely no one saw coming.

"NCIS" devoted a not inconsiderable amount of time to Ned Dorneget's (Matt Jones) character development throughout his three seasons on the series, which made the abrupt conclusion of his arc all the more surprising. In the process of his evolution from a lovably awkward probie, Dorneget became a favorite among "NCIS" fans — until he was killed in a terrorist attack in the penultimate episode of Season 12 shortly after his promotion to a full-blown agent.

Dorneget's demise may have partly come as such a shock because it originally wasn't planned by the show's writers. Jones revealed on Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo's podcast Off Duty: An "NCIS" Rewatch that he talked himself off the show while at a CBS party he attended in between filming "Breaking Bad" and "Mom." "[Gary Glasberg, former "NCIS" showrunner] came over and he's like, 'Oh, you got to come back,'" recalled Jones.

"And I was like: 'I'm on this sitcom now. I can't come back. I want to, but what do we do?' And he was like, 'I don't know, what do you want to do?' I was like: 'Kill me!'"

Although Jones now regards this move as "a stupid idea," the deed was done.

She may have only appeared on "NCIS" for two seasons, but everything about NCIS director Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly) seemed rife with story potential. She shared romantic tension with Gibbs (Mark Harmon) but was hinted to be seriously ill throughout Season 5, making her death in a shootout at the end of "Judgement Day: Part 1" one of the show's more startling left turns. "[T]he decision was made to kill me, and boy did they," Holly wrote in a statement originally posted to her website. "About five different ways!"

Jenny was the first "NCIS" director to meet an unexpected end on screen, and this unprecedented move imbued the next few seasons with a deliciously suspenseful uncertainty. Apparently in the world of "NCIS," not every question is meant to be answered.

Although the unforgettable "NCIS" Season 8 episode "Swan Song" opened with a body bag, some fans of the endearingly cantankerous Mike Franks (Muse Watson) likely found refuge in false hope when they saw the former special agent speaking to Gibbs throughout the episode. The ultimate reveal that Franks died at the hands of the Port-to-Port Killer was a double gut-punch for audiences — not only were Gibbs' discussions with his deceased former mentor confirmed to be imaginary, but fan favorite Mike Franks had departed from "NCIS" for good.

The Season 8 premiere of "NCIS" had already established that Franks was suffering from terminal lung cancer. But even then, the foreshadowed loss of Franks was an unanticipated blow. Franks' shared past with Gibbs had allowed "NCIS" to explore parts of its stoic protagonist that audiences often didn't get to see, and it was difficult to imagine what Gibbs' life would look like without the support of one of his closest friends.

The longest-reigning director of the agency to date, Leon Vance's (Rocky Carroll) 18-season run on "NCIS" cemented him as one of the series' constants. After the show's watershed 500th episode saw Vance betrayed and shot by rogue agent Dolan Thompson (Matt Cook), it confirmed that no one in the "NCIS" cast is ever truly safe.

Ever since the character was first introduced as an NCIS assistant director in Season 5, Carroll's nuanced portrayal of Vance had made the departure of his character practically unthinkable to the "NCIS" writers' room. But according to Carroll himself, the minds behind "NCIS" wanted its 500th episode to "really [send] shockwaves through the TV community and the fan base" — and that meant killing off a character who had been a fixture of the show throughout almost two decades. 

"The only thing that surprised me more than being told what the story was and how it was going to impact my character was how quickly I was able to kind of come to terms with it," Carroll told TVLine.

"After 23 seasons, we've told a lot of stories, and we've told a lot of them more than once. So, as odd as this may sound, my first thought was: 'That's a great story,'" laughed Carroll. "Nobody's gonna see it coming."

The final minutes of the landmark "NCIS" episode "Twilight" saw Agent Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander) take a bullet that was meant for Gibbs. While she remained frighteningly still in the moments after, the reveal that Kate survived the shot elicited sighs of relief from her fellow agents, who helped her to her feet — only to watch her be immediately shot in the head by terrorist Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin). This time, she didn't get up.

This episode marked one of the first times a major character was killed on "NCIS" screens, and its shockingly fatal conclusion arguably helped make "NCIS" the show it is today. The aftermath of Kate's unanticipated murder coincided with the series' first significant boost in ratings, and her subsequent replacement with Cote de Pablo's Ziva David paved the way for one of the show's most memorable romantic dynamics (and the eventual spin-off "Tony and Ziva.") Like it or not, Kate's death was the first time "NCIS" demonstrated an ability to really and truly surprise its viewers.