NCIS Season 21: How did the series write out Ducky's character?

When we learned David McCallum had passed away at the age of 90, we knew NCIS had to write in Ducky’s death. The big question was how it would be written in.

Caution: This post contains minor spoilers for NCIS Season 21, Episode 2.

The second episode is all about Ducky. Brian Dietzen co-wrote the episode, which was a beautiful tribute to Ducky. To make sure plenty of familiar faces could show up, the episode had flashbacks added in.

Of course, the big question for many was whether the show would make Ducky a murder victim or not. How did the show choose to write out Ducky?

Ducky died of natural causes in NCIS

There was arguably only one way the show could pay tribute to the only OG character left on the series. And the show agreed. Ducky was written out by dying of natural causes.

Palmer walked into the house with coffee, immediately greeted by Bach and Ducky’s dog. Palmer commented about Ducky sleeping in and went straight into the bedroom to open the curtains. It shows the type of relationship the two had.

That’s when Palmer realized what had happened. As he turned around, he saw Ducky in the bed. It was very clear what had happened. Ducky had died in his sleep.

Palmer felt bad for not being there for Ducky. Everyone commented on how they expected Ducky to live forever, but this is where we get the case for the episode. It turns out that Ducky had called the night before to discuss something he had been working on, and Palmer promised to be over the next morning. While Palmer had no reason to believe that Ducky would die in his sleep, he still felt guilty for not going over the night before.

NCIS airs on Mondays at 9/8c on CBS. Catch up the following day on Paramount+.