Why did Emily Wickersham leave NCIS? Reason explored

After eight years of playing Eleanor "Ellie" Bishop, actress Emily Wickersham said goodbye to NCIS in 2021. The long-running police procedural drama has seen many entries and exits over the years, but Wickersham’s departure still bothers the audience.

The actress had joined the show in Season 11 as Bishop became a replacement for Ziva David after she faked her death. After working on some high-stakes cases and becoming an integral member of the team, Bishop left the NCIS in Season 18 to work on an undercover mission with the CIA.

At the time, Wickersham did not reveal the reason behind her decision to leave the show. However, three years later, she finally confirmed that she had decided to move on from the procedural drama to pursue other opportunities.

Why did Emily Wickersham leave NCIS?

In 2021, the NCIS Season 18 finale marked the final appearance of Emily Wickersham as Ellie Bishop. Around that time, reports came out that the actress was pregnant, which was thought to be the reason behind her exit.

However, Wickersham cleared the air in 2024 on the Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch podcast. The actress revealed that she found out she was pregnant a month after she had already left the show. Talking about why she chose to move on from the CBS series, Wickersham said:

“I was ready to leave the show. It was time, and I was ready to move on to something else, and I guess this [being pregnant] was the something else I was meant to move on to. So it was good.”

However, since her exit from the show, Wickersham has not been seen in any television or film project, and instead, seems to be focusing on her family life. She shares two children with her husband, James Badge Dale, with whom she got married in 2024.

During the podcast, Wickersham also talked about how she adjusted to her new life and motherhood following her departure from NCIS and said:

“It took a while. I left the show, I found out I was pregnant a month later… So it was a combo of decompressing and trying to really relax and figure out how things were going to be without work. Because, as you guys know, it's all-consuming.”

“Your life is all NCIS when you're on that show. It’s all day, every day, and you're not really left with much time to do many things outside of that. So that was a real adjustment for me.”

To accommodate the actress’s exit, series creators wrote Bishop off the show. In the Season 18 finale, she revealed that she was working with CIA agent Odette Malone, who had also been in touch with Ziva David. Bishop was barred from working at the agency after it came out that she had leaked confidential NSA documents.

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The special agent eventually decided to keep working on undercover operations with Malone, leaving the agency behind. Apart from NCIS, Wickersham has been seen in shows like The Sopranos, The Bridge, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and The Bronx Is Burning.

For more news and updates about police procedurals, keep following Soap Central.

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