NCIS Season 22 is just days from concluding its run on the 2025 TV schedule, and this past Monday’s episode (which you can stream with a Paramount+ subscription) left us with quite the lingering plot thread. After months of Timothy McGee suspecting Deputy Director Gabriel LaRoche to be all kinds of shady, this was finally confirmed in “Irreconcilable Differences,” though Seamus Dever’s character claimed that what he’s been up to has never been about money. As if that wasn’t enough to get ready for, Nick Torres actor Wilmer Valderrama is teasing that there will be a major death in the Season 22 finale. Frankly, now I’m concerned about three specific NCIS characters, and I’ll be really mad if either of them bite the dust.
Valderrama teased the forthcoming death while appearing on CBS Mornings, making it abundantly clear that this will not just be the standard kind of victim that the main cast of characters deals with week after week. As he put it:
Somebody dies, and it’s not the murder of the week. It’s somebody, unfortunately, very close to us, and it’s going to be very earth-shattering and really heartbreaking for us.
Now, before I heard Wilmer Valderrama say this, I just assumed that the big death in the NCIS Season 22 finale, titled “Nexus,” will be Gabriel LaRoche. Regardless of whether or not he’s a true bad guy, I don’t think he’ll stick around for for NCIS Season 23, and it’s also easy enough to envision him sacrificing himself to atone for his illegal activities. But Valderrama said it’s some “close” to the main characters, and LaRoche doesn’t fit that bill. So now, fearing the worst, I’m worried about these three men going into “Nexus.”
Alden Parker
Gary Cole’s Alden Parker took over leading the team early on into NCIS Season 19 after Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs decided to stay in Alaska. Season 22 has been particularly eventful for Parker, as he’s not only been dealing with the Lily mystery and learning new things about his childhood, he’s also had to contend with Carla Morino, head of the Kansas City mob, coming back into his life. Are we going to see Parker killed off as he finally learns the full Lily story and/or crosses paths with Carla again in the midst of this LaRoche business? I’m not ruling it out.
Leon Vance
Rocky Carroll’s been playing Leon Vance since NCIS Season 5, with the end of that season seeing him become director of the law enforcement agency following Jenny Shepard’s death. At this point, it’s hard to imagine the show without him being around, but even Vance isn’t invincible. As we pull back the curtain on Gabriel LaRoche’s activities, it’s entirely possible that events will unfold that lead to Vance being put in danger once again, and unlike when he was shot in the NCIS franchise’s 1,000th episode, this time he won’t make it out alive.
Tobias Fornell
Ok, I know this seems like a random pull, but hear me out. Joe Spano has been recurring on NCIS since the beginning, having debuted as Tobias Fornell in the very first episode and appearing in every season except for Season 17, and that was only because the COVID-19 pandemic shut down production early. We haven’t seen Fornell in Season 22, but perhaps he’s been saved for a surprise guest appearance in the finale. He would also qualify as someone close to the team, so while the chances of him dying happening are slimmer than with Parker and Vance, it’s not an impossibility.
We’ll find out who’s off to meet their maker when the NCIS Season 22 finale airs Monday at 9 pm ET on CBS. Whatever ends up happening, you can be sure that the aftermath will continue to be explored when NCIS Season 23 airs in the fall.