Special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs isn’t hanging up his fishing pole anytime soon.

The NCIS intro still features Mark HarmonExecutive Producer, character Steven D. Binder Binder stated that there is no immediate plan to bring the star back. “There’s always head space for him to come back,” Binder told TV Insider following the season 19 finale on May 23. “It just has to be the right story, I think, to get him excited about it and to get us excited about it.”

Last viewers saw of Gibbs, he decided to stay in Alaska, where he and Special Agent Timothy McGee (Sean MurrayThey were looking for serial killers. McGee was told by Gibbs in the October episode that he felt “senses of peace” following his loss to Shannon.Darby StanchfieldKelly (his daughter) and heMary Mouser).

Binder admitted that Gibbs’ death wasn’t permanent, but it’s not enough reason to restore the character. He explained that it was a card we can play and that they don’t want to use it for cheap. It must be right when it is played.