NCIS’ Bishop Actor Reflects On Her Exit 3 Years Later: “A Weird Moment In Time”

Emily Wickersham looks back on her NCIS exit three years later. In season 11, Wickersham joined the NCIS cast as Eleanor “Ellie” Bishop, an NSA agent who took on a joint position with the titular agency in the wake of Ziva David’s departure. Bishop would prove to be a capable agent in her own right and was at the center of a number of dramatic storylines during her time on the show. She left the team in NCIS season 18 and hasn’t returned since.

Wickersham recently appeared on Off-Duty: An NCIS Rewatch podcast, which is hosted by former stars Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo. During the conversation (via CinemaBlend), the actor opened up about what it was like to leave NCIS when she did, explaining that it happened during a period of her life that would become more significant than she initially realized. Wickersham said:

It took a while. I left the show, I found out I was pregnant a month later… So it was a combo of decompressing and trying to really relax and figure out how things were going to be without work. Because as you guys know, it’s all consuming. 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. So that was a real adjustment for me.