NCIS veteran David McCallum has closed a deal to return to the venerable CBS drama series next fall for its recently ordered 16th season. With Pauley Perrette leaving the crime procedural at the end of the current fifteenth season, McCallum and NCIS star Mark Harmon are now the only remaining original cast members. Both are set to come back next season; Harmon’s new contract sealed NCIS‘ Season 16 renewal last month. With the exception of Perrette, all NCIS cast members are expected to continue.
Like this season, McCallum, who will turn 85 in September, will have an alleviated workload. This season, his character, NCIS Chief Medical Examiner Donald “Ducky” Mallard, was in about half of the episodes.
In a Facebook post confirming his new contract from earlier this week, McCallum noted that the reduced schedule will allow him “to spend time with Katherine,” his wife of 50 years, their children, six grandchildren and cat Nickie.
