Earlier this year, Mark Harmon abruptly quit NCIS after an incredible 423 episodes. Fans were upset when Leroy Jethro Gibbs left the program after his final episode aired in mid-October.

Although Harmon has kept the possibility of a future comeback open, it is yet unknown what lies ahead for him. He wants to spend more time with his family right now because they were unintentionally the reason he was hired by NCIS in the first place.

New information on Mark Harmon’s departure from NCIS has now surfaced, including a very specific request he made prior to his final episode.

In Burbank, California, on September 2, 1951, Mark Harmon was born. Given the careers of his parents, Tom Harmon, a former football player who is now a broadcaster, and Elyse Know, an actress and artist, it was safe to anticipate that he would pursue either a career in football or acting.

As a child, Harmon has acknowledged that he was unaware that his parents were well-known. He frequently accompanied his father as a toddler when he was commentating at sporting events. Years later, after witnessing Mark play quarterback for the UCLA Bruins for two years, his father would win back his affection.

At that point, Mark had a chance to play football professionally. He envisioned an even wider platform, though, and aspired to a career in theater or film. He started socializing with Ricky Nelson’s family after his sister-in-law married him.

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was the show Ricky was working on at the time. Later, Harmon was asked to step in for an actor who couldn’t make it as Nelson worked on the spinoff series Ozzie’s Girls. To observe how things worked, Mark accompanied Ricky about the set. His passion for the field was ignited by the encounter.

“That changed my course,” he said. Harmon made the choice to forgo his aspiration of being a professional football player in favor of a career in acting.

The ambitious actor returned to school while several of his friends went on to play professionally and made more money in a year than he did in the following 15 put together, according to Harmon.

After taking acting classes, he quickly got his first movie and television parts. He even had the opportunity to work with performers like Michael Caine and Jaso Robards, who later served as his mentors.

“They were all humble; they all gave me valuable time and camaraderie and advice,” he recalled.

After appearing in shows like 240 Robert, Flamingo Road, and The Love Boat on occasion, Mark finally landed his big break when he was made a series regular on the drama St. Elsewhere.

As more producers became aware of Mark’s exceptional acting abilities, he received additional work. Then, after working in the industry for around 15 to 20 years, it all got a little too much. At that point, Harmon made a choice that forever altered his life.

“I was directing a lot, I was doing a movie here or there, and we had this young family that was growing up, and I was missing a lot of [family time], he said, adding that it “was not OK.”

Even though Mark was well-known, he ultimately felt as though he was missing out on experiences that he would not have later in life.

“I was in the jungles of New Guinea making a not-very-good movie when my firstborn child took his first steps. No job is worth missing life’s important moments,” he said.

In order to spend more time with his family, Harmon made the decision to take a step back. The script for NCIS, a television series about the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, arrived around that time. Harmon was taken aback by the writing, which was frequently amusing, and Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ persona.

“For a moment, when I started getting interested in doing it, the name changed to Bob Nelson or something, and I just said, ‘Eh…please, can you put the name back,’” he recalled.

In September 2003, the first episode of NCIS aired. The show took some time to become well-known, but once it did, it was a huge hit.With millions of viewers each week, NCIS rose to become one of the most popular shows in the world.

The Hollywood Reporter claims that it has more than 200 licenses worldwide and has given rise to many CBS spinoffs, including NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Los Angeles, and NCIS: Hawaii.

Three Primetime Emmy nominations and numerous other honors have been bestowed to the program over its tenure. In addition to being nominated for numerous awards for his performances, Harmon himself also took home the People’s Choice Award for Favorite TV Crime Drama Actor in 2017.

Harmon struggled to understand how NCIS became one of the most popular television programs despite its success.

“I don’t. You can’t. The international reach is staggering,” he told TV Insider in 2017.

“It’s hard to walk through airports even in the most out-of-the-way places without being surrounded by people who love the show—and that’s nothing to complain about. I’ve done TV shows where I walk through airports apologizing.”

In addition to becoming one of the most well-known actors on the show, Mark turned out to be well-liked by his coworkers as seen by the number of them who have publicly praised him.

Now, according to sources, he and Pauley Perrette, who played Abby Sciuto on the program, had a poor ending. However, Harmon’s co-star Sean Murray only had positive things to say about him.

Over the years, Sean, who plays Timothy McGee, and his coworker have spent a lot of time together and, by all accounts, have developed a wonderful friendship.

“The relationship between McGee and Gibbs has always been like that of a father-son thing, but we’ll be exploring that quite a bit and see how that’s changed and grown,” he explained of upcoming episodes.

“But for him, the bond doesn’t stop when the cameras aren’t rolling,” Sean explained.

“As for Mark, he’s a mentor and one of my best friends. One of the best work partners I’ve ever had. He means a tremendous amount to me. He’s got these qualities of a leader that have made the show what it is today. He’s our quarterback.”

The same applied to Harmon and David McCallum. Their initial encounter was hilarious in more ways than one.

According to rumors, Harmon was the one who was awestruck when he first met McCallum. On a JAG episode from 2003, the two co-starred. Harmon joked that he couldn’t believe he was shaking the hand of Illya Kuryakin, McCallum’s Man from U.N.C.L.E. character, because he was so pleased to meet him.