NCIS will have a Ducky tribute episode (and here's what we know about it)

NCIS fans will have a chance to say goodbye to Ducky in Season 21 of the series. There's a special writer for this episode.

"Decompressed" -- When a deep sea diver is murdered on the job, his body and suspected co-workers must remain in a high-tech decompression chamber for four days, leaving the NCIS team to complete an unorthodox investigation from outside the tank, on NCIS, Tuesday, Feb. 9 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), on the CBS Television Network. Pictured: David McCallum 
Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS
©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
"Decompressed" -- When a deep sea diver is murdered on the job, his body and suspected co-workers must remain in a high-tech decompression chamber for four days, leaving the NCIS team to complete an unorthodox investigation from outside the tank, on NCIS, Tuesday, Feb. 9 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), on the CBS Television Network. Pictured: David McCallum Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS ©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

With the passing of David McCallum head of production of NCIS Season 21 starting, fans questions when a tribute episode would happen. This wasn’t about whether one would happen, but about when. We all knew that nobody was going to forget about Ducky.

Well, now we have the details. The tribute episode is going to be the second episode of the new season. That means we’ll be saying goodbye to Ducky in February 2024. It’s certainly going to be sad, but it’s going to be a worthy episode. We’re sure of that.

You see, there’s someone very special to the show writing this episode. TVLine has all the details, and here’s what we know.

Who is writing the Ducky tribute episode in NCIS Season 21?

Brian Dietzen is writing the episode. Yes, he plays Dr. Jimmy Palmer, who has always looked up to Ducky from his time as an assistant to the time that he got his own medical license. He even talks to the dead to take care of them as he figures out what killed them in the way that Ducky did.

Well, Dietzen is the co-writer. EP Scott Williams is also the writer on this episode.

It only seems fitting to have Dietzen as the writer. He was close to David McCallum as they shared so many scenes together over the last 20 seasons of the series.

What will happen in the tribute episode?

It’s not clear just how Ducky’s death will be handled just yet. What we do know is that he will help the team solve one final case. It’s only right that Ducky go out by helping the team in some way.

Hopefully, Ducky hasn’t been killed by someone. With some hope, he got to die of natural causes but he was working on something before his death, which will help the team.

The episode will feature flashbacks of Ducky. This is a real memorial episode for the actor and the character.

The Ducky tribute episode of NCIS Season 21 will air on Monday, Feb. 19 on CBS.