Regardless of becoming a member of NCIS as FBI Particular Agent Alden Parker practically three years in the past, Gary Cole admitted he’s nonetheless getting his bearings.
Cole, 67, took over the lead function on the long-running drama from Mark Harmon throughout season 19 in September 2021, however the veteran actor acknowledged he’s having hassle with path — actually.
“I’m constantly lost still,” Cole solely advised Us Weekly on the CBS Fall Schedule Celebration Thursday, Might 2, on the Paramount Studios lot in Los Angeles.
Cole joked, “There’s people that have been there 20 years that make a wrong turn and we’re looking for them.”
As Cole additional defined, he can generally nonetheless have questions in regards to the story traces on the present, which ran for practically twenty years earlier than he got here on board.
“I’m always asking, ‘What happened here?’” Cole stated. “I mean, old episodes always come up. Not necessarily for research, but just to use it to see what happened when we were out here. You get a sense of what the stories were and what was up.”
When Cole successfully changed Harmon because the lead on NCIS, he credited the writers with making his job “pretty easy.”
“I thought the writers really solved a lot of issues,” he stated, “because they didn’t make it into a situation where you hear a knock on the door and it was like ‘Hi, I’m the new guy.’”
Cole and Harmon, 72, appeared in three episodes collectively earlier than Harmon formally left the present in the course of the fourth episode of season 19. In whole, Harmon appeared on over 435 episodes of NCIS throughout his 18-year run.
To get him acclimated, Cole additionally credited the present’s ensemble forged with creating an invigorating artistic surroundings.
“I enjoy when there’s a lot of us in a scene,” Cole stated. “We’ve become pretty good at doing a scene with five or six people. Everybody knows their choreography. It’s really like a dance. That’s been fun to develop with this group.”
The sentiment was echoed by costar Katrina Regulation, who performs Jessica Knight on NCIS. Regulation gushed to Us Weekly, “I think Gary Cole is one of the best humans and best actors on this planet.”
As for the present’s upcoming season 21 finale, Cole acknowledged he couldn’t say a lot, however promised “a little cliffhanger.”
Cole stated, “Hopefully that’s where we delivered.”
The season finale of NCIS airs on CBS Monday, Might 6, at 9 p.m. ET.
Reporting by Kevin Zelman