It’s hard to imagine NCIS without Timothy McGee. Sean Murray has played the lovable tech expert for over 20 years, but believe it or not, he was never supposed to stick around—his rise to main-character status was a complete accident.
Murray originally joined the show in Season 1 for what was meant to be a one-time guest spot. (Fun fact: the show’s co-creator, Donald Bellisario, is actually his stepdad.)
So, how did he become a main character? Pure luck.
Murray told TV Insider that the writers realized an early episode was running a few minutes too short. To fill the extra time, they quickly wrote a scene between McGee and Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly).
The chemistry between the two was so good that the producers promoted Murray to a series regular by Season 2.
Over 20 years later, he is still one of the show’s biggest stars.
Keeping McGee Fresh After 20 Years
Even after two decades on the air, the show is still finding new ways to challenge McGee. In the Season 21 episode “The Plan,” he gets a huge personal surprise when he discovers he has a secret relative he never knew about.
It’s a different kind of mystery for McGee that will change his life going forward. Solving crimes is second nature to him, but dealing with an unexpected family shock is completely new territory.
For Murray, storylines like this are exactly what keeps the job exciting. He told Entertainment Weekly that he never wanted his character to get boring or stay frozen in time.
As Murray put it: “I remember talking to the writers early on about this… I don’t want to be baby Maggie Simpson.”
Over twenty seasons in, it’s clear McGee is still growing, he still has plenty of story left to tell—and fans are still here for it.
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