Inside Emily Wickersham’s Decision to Leave “NCIS” and Why She’s Returning Alongside Mark Harmon in “Origins”

NEED TO KNOW

• Emily Wickersham played Eleanor “Ellie” Bishop on NCIS from 2013 to 2021

• She reprised her role on NCIS season 23

• The actress will appear on the spinoff NCIS: Origins on Oct. 27

Emily Wickersham and her character Eleanor “Ellie” Bishop are returning to the NCIS franchise again.

Wickersham joined the cast of NCIS in season 11, playing Bishop for eight seasons. The actress left at the end of season 18 in 2021 and took a break from acting. Today, she and her husband, fellow actor James Badge Dale, are parents of two sons.

In October 2026, Wickersham posed for a selfie with costar Mark Harmon that she shared on Instagram, teasing her upcoming appearance on an episode of NCIS: Origins that airs Oct. 27. (She previously reprised her role on NCIS season 23.)

“A little bit of my origin story … I love this show, these people, and getting to be a tiny part of it 🤍🧑🏼‍🩰,” she wrote.

So, why did Emily Wickersham leave NCIS? Here’s everything to know about her decision to depart from the procedural show and her most recent return to the franchise.

Why did Emily Wickersham leave NCIS?

When Bishop left in season 18, her storyline ended in what seemed like disgrace, but it was, in fact, a carefully constructed ruse.

In the season 18 finale, “Rule 91,” Bishop was accused of leaking classified documents, something she confessed to, which led to her resigning from NCIS.

It was later revealed that the document leak was a cover story by CIA training officer Odette Malone (Elayn J. Taylor), so Bishop could leave the team and go deep undercover on a top-secret mission.

Wickersham announced she was leaving the longtime series in an Instagram post she shared on the same day the NCIS finale aired, May 25, 2021.

“Hangin this hat and jacket up. What a great ride it’s been,” she captioned black-and-white photos of herself on the show’s set. “This cast, this crew, are top notch. I can’t say enough kind words about this group that I’ve had the pleasure of working with for close to 8 years now and 172 episodes later.”

“This business is finicky and weird and consistency is a rarity. I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of a show where I got to show up and act and laugh and learn with wonderful people,” the actress continued. “A moment in time I surely won’t forget.”

As for the reason, she told the Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch podcast in August 2024 that she wanted to close that chapter of her career.

“I was ready to leave the show. … It was time and I was ready to move on,” Wickersham said.

What did Emily Wickersham do after leaving NCIS?

Wickersham took a break from acting after leaving NCIS, with Bishop being her most recent role, according to her IMDb.

Since her time on NCIS, Wickersham has celebrated several milestones in her personal life.

She and her husband Dale have welcomed two sons: Cassius in 2021 and Zephyr in 2024. Around the time the actors welcomed their second child, they married on Sept. 27, 2024.

During her appearance on the Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch podcast in August 2024, Wickersham revealed she found out she was pregnant a month after she left the series.

“So, it was like a combo of decompressing and trying to really like relax and figure out how things were going to be without work,” she said about her life after NCIS. “Because … it’s all consuming.”

Wickersham added, “Your life is all NCIS when you’re on that show. It’s all day every day, and you’re not really left with much time to do many things outside of that.”

In addition to getting married and becoming a mom, she has also moved from Los Angeles to New York City in the years since she left the series.

When did Emily Wickersham return to NCIS?

Wickersham made a brief surprise appearance at the end of the season 23 episode, “Heaven and Nature,” and returned as a guest star later that season in the episode “Her.”

In “Her,” NCIS: Elite’s first mission was focused on Bishop, who was believed to be a cyber criminal.

The episode not only featured Bishop, but confirmed she had a secret romance with Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) before she left the NCIS team.

“I was surprised that they actually not just implied it but went ahead and had a whole scene,” Valderrama told Parade in March 2026 about the relationship reveal. “That was pretty unexpected. We don’t do those things on the show.”

“So, the fact that they were able to push the show to do different things was really cool to see that the show can actually go to places that the fans will want to discover,” he continued.

“Her” also featured a reunion between Bishop and other NCIS members, including Special Agent Jessica Knight (Katrina Law), the lead of the Elite team, who was tasked with hunting down Bishop. (Law’s character was introduced at the end of season 18, as Wickersham was leaving the series.)

On the Oct. 27 episode of NCIS: Origins, Wickersham will reprise her role again when Bishop is “enlisted by new director Tony DiNozzo to help Gibbs on his quest to track down the unknown assailants who shot him,” per TVLine.

Is Emily Wickersham part of the NCIS cast again?

Wickersham is not a permanent member of the NCIS cast again, but “the door’s open” for the actress to return for more episodes in the future.

“I’m happy to go back again. I would never close the door on that at all,” Wickersham told TV Insider in February 2026. “I feel so lucky to have been able to work there for so many years, and it’s such a great set and it’s such a great team. If they wanted me back, I would definitely. It would be fun. We had fun.”

Read the original article on People