NCIS Episode 500's Cast Exit Is The First Of Its Kind In Nearly 20 Years

Contains spoilers for "NCIS" Season 23, Episode 13 — "All Good Things"

For the first time in nearly two decades, "NCIS" has killed off the agency's director in an act of on-screen violence. This time, it's Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) who dies — and he ironically assumed his role with the team when Director Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly) met her end all the way back in Season 5. That was during "Judgment Day Part One," which aired in 2008. The most recent main character to die overall on "NCIS" was David McCallum's Ducky Mallard, who passed away offscreen of natural causes in the wake of McCallum's real-life death.

But the shooting death of Vance is as shocking as it is unique, especially since it happens at the hands of a CID agent. NCIS has just been folded into that organization, and the team has just figured out that the CID's director and many of its agents are involved in a smuggling ring. The conspirators try to frame the sister of Billy Fuentes (Austin Marques), son of the man who Leroy Jethro Gibbs helped in Season 1, Episode 2 of "NCIS," "Hung out to Dry." The team figures out what's really happening, and while NCIS is reopened thanks to Vance's sacrifice, his death leaves a big hole behind.

Leon Vance's murder ends up being ironic in numerous ways. Not only is he slaughtered just like his predecessor, but the fake-out leading up to his death resembles that of Special Agent Caitlin "Kate" Todd (Sasha Alexander), who was memorably killed during Season 2's "Twilight." Todd saves Gibbs from a hidden shooter who's on the same roof as them, but is unharmed because she's wearing a vest. Yet viewers are shocked a moment later when recurring villain Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin) snipes her from another roof with a headshot.

In "All Good Things," Vance is detailing the current Fuentes case — as well as his thoughts on NCIS, its history, its team members, and its importance — to an unidentified person who turns out to be the spirit of a young Ducky Mallard (Adam Campbell). At this point we realize that Vance is dead, having been hit by three shots without wearing a vest — even though he initially seems to think he was wearing one.

Executive producer Steven D. Binder has admitted that Vance's death ought to bring the loss of Todd to mind. "There have always been real stakes, perhaps as best embodied by what happened to Agent Todd [Sasha Alexander] in the Season 2 finale," he told TV Insider. "It is never easy to say goodbye to any of our characters, but we wanted to honor Rocky and his legacy on the show as best as we could — in this case, giving his life so his agency could live." While Vance heads in the afterlife — guided by the voice of his wife, Jackie, who was killed in Season 6 – Rocky Carroll himself may well be back to direct some "NCIS" episodes in the future.