Gary Cole of “NCIS” attends the CBS New Fall Schedule Celebration.
Francis Specker/CBSDespite joining NCIS as FBI Special Agent Alden Parker almost three years ago, Gary Cole admitted he’s still finding his way.
Cole, 67, took on the lead role in the long-running drama Mark Harmon However, during season 19 in September 2021, the veteran actor admitted that he struggles with directing – literally.
“I’m still lost,” Cole said exclusively Us weekly at the CBS Fall Schedule Celebration on Thursday, May 2, at the Paramount Studios lot in Los Angeles.
Cole joked, “There are people who have been there for 20 years who are taking wrong turns and we’re looking for them.”
The NCIS family continues to grow, with six existing or previous series and two more coming in 2024. While many fans may think that the naval intelligence-based franchise began with NCIS, that is not the case. The flagship NCIS show was actually JAG, which debuted on NBC in 1995. The series followed the military series […]
As Cole further explained, he can sometimes still have questions about the storylines of the series, which ran for nearly two decades before he came on board.
Gary Cole as Alden Parker on “NCIS.”
Robert Voets/CBS“I always ask, ‘What happened here?'” Cole said. “I mean, old episodes keep coming up. Not necessarily for research purposes, but just to see what happened while we were out here. You get a sense of what the stories were about and what was going on.”
When Cole effectively replaced Harmon as leader NCISHe credited the authors with making his work “pretty easy.”
“I thought the writers really solved a lot of problems,” he said, “because they didn’t put it in a situation where you hear a knock on the door and you think, ‘Hello, I’m the new guy.’ “”
Cole and Harmon, 72, appeared in three episodes together before Harmon officially left the series in the fourth episode of season 19. In total, Harmon appeared in over 435 episodes of NCIS during its 18-year run.
To settle him in, Cole also praised the show’s ensemble cast for creating an invigorating creative environment.
“I enjoy it when there are a lot of us in a scene,” Cole said. “We’ve gotten pretty good at doing a scene with five or six people. Everyone knows his choreography. It’s really like a dance. It was fun to develop something with this group.”
Wilmer Valderrama as Nicholas “Nick” Torres, Sean Murray as Timothy McGee, Katrina Law as Jessica Knight, Gary Cole as Alden Parker and Brian Dietzen as Jimmy Palmer on “NCIS.”
Robert Voets/CBSThe opinion was confirmed by Costar Katrina Lawwho plays Jessica Knight NCIS. Law raved about it Us weekly“I think Gary Cole is one of the best people and best actors on the planet.”
As for the upcoming Season 21 finale, Cole admitted he couldn’t say much, but promised “a little cliffhanger.”
Cole said: “Hopefully we delivered there.”
The season finale of NCIS airs Monday, May 6 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.
Reporting by Kevin Zelman