NCIS Showrunner Regrets Key Character Deaths

NCIS showrunner Steven Binder has revealed that he regrets the on-screen deaths of two significant characters: Mike Franks and Diane Sterling. Franks, who served as mentor to Leroy Jethro Gibbs, was killed off in the 2021 episode "Swan Song," though it was later revealed he was already dying from lung cancer. Diane Sterling, ex-wife to both Gibbs and Tobias Fornell, was fatally shot in the 2024 episode "Check." Binder admitted he initially pushed back against Sterling's death.

Binder stated that the recent fatal shooting of Leon Vance in the 500th episode was a deliberate choice to underscore the "real stakes" in the series. Despite their on-screen demise, both Franks and Sterling have made posthumous appearances in the show, often as flashbacks or ghostly apparitions. Fans can now explore the earlier lives of these characters in the prequel series, NCIS: Origins, where Mike Franks is a principal character and Diane Sterling is recurring.