For nearly two decades, the core of NCIS was defined by Jethro Gibbs’ rule-breaking, coffee-fueled intensity. When Mark Harmon finally stepped away, the torch had to pass. The show’s solution was the introduction of Alden Parker, a quirky, easy-going FBI agent turned NCIS team leader. While Parker, played by Gary Cole, offered a necessary tonal shift, Season 23 is increasingly highlighting a fundamental error in the franchise’s long-term strategy: Parker lacks the magnetism and complexity required to anchor a spinoff or carry the entire flagship series.
The quiet stability Parker provides in the main team dynamic is precisely what makes him an uninspiring choice for a potential new series. In contrast, the absence of Nick Torres, whose complex, flawed character arc had built a decade’s worth of compelling leadership potential, exposes a massive missed opportunity for the franchise to evolve.
The Parker Problem: Stability Over Substance
Alden Parker was designed to be the anti-Gibbs. Where Gibbs was taciturn, Parker is talkative and uses dad jokes. Where Gibbs led by intimidation, Parker leads by consensus. This approach was initially refreshing, allowing the ensemble cast—McGee, Knight, and the remaining agents—to shine.
However, as NCIS has sailed into Season 23, Parker’s defining characteristic has become his lack of defining characteristics.
1. The Absence of Dark Complexity
Every successful NCIS team leader—Gibbs, DiNozzo, and even the leads of the successful NCIS: Hawai’i and NCIS: Los Angeles—possessed a dark, driving backstory that provided narrative fuel for years. Gibbs had the murder of his first wife and daughter; DiNozzo had his family trauma and Ziva’s initial death.
Parker’s “dark” past, primarily involving his ex-wife and a relatively clean transition from the FBI, simply doesn’t hold the same dramatic weight. He’s too well-adjusted for a show that thrives on the damaged hero trope. His conflicts are external—a case of the week—not internal, which makes his character arc flat and predictable. A successful spinoff relies on a lead whose internal battles are as interesting as the crimes they solve. Parker doesn’t fit that mold.
2. Lack of Mentorship and Tension
The central dynamic of early NCIS was the Gibbs-DiNozzo mentorship. Gibbs was a father figure, teacher, and tormentor. That tension was gold. Parker, however, interacts with McGee and Knight as equals, offering polite suggestions rather than sharp guidance.
While a collaborative environment is healthy in a real workplace, it drains the dramatic tension from the show. McGee is already a mature, capable agent; he doesn’t need Parker’s mentorship. As a result, Parker serves more as a coordinator than a leader, making him a less dynamic choice to headline a new series where the lead must immediately establish authority and a distinctive style.
The Spinoff Star That Got Away: Nick Torres
The missed opportunity becomes painfully clear when considering Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama). Torres, a character whose storyline ended abruptly with him facing a lengthy prison sentence, was the obvious, natural choice to inherit the franchise’s dramatic momentum.
1. The Gibbs Heir Apparent
Torres possessed the perfect blend of skills and flaws necessary for a flagship leader:
- Instinct and Edge: Like Gibbs, Torres was a skilled interrogator, relying on gut instinct and a dangerous undercover background. He had the same loose cannon energy that often defined the best episodes.
- The Family Man Conflict: Torres had a history of abandonment, a difficult upbringing, and a desperate yearning for familial connection—a deeply complex internal battle that would have made for incredible character-driven storytelling as a leader.
- A Natural Evolution: His journey from solitary undercover agent to loyal team member and finally, a leader, represented a true character evolution. A spinoff could have explored his transition, his battles with his past, and his struggle to manage a team while keeping his volatile nature in check.
A Torres-led spinoff would have offered high-stakes, emotional, and gritty storytelling, retaining the intensity that made NCIS a global phenomenon while charting a new, darker path.
2. The Power of Absence
Season 23’s decision to write out Torres and continue with Parker has left a narrative void. The cases feel less personal, the tension is muted, and the primary source of emotional risk is gone. The show is stable, but stability in a procedural drama can easily translate to stagnation. The lack of a high-wire emotional act like Torres makes the entire team feel safer, and therefore, less compelling. The franchise needed a risky, charismatic, and deeply flawed leader to launch a new era—Torres was that risk.
The Franchise’s Future Dilemma
The challenge facing the NCIS franchise now is twofold:
1. The Danger of Homogeneity
The success of NCIS spin-offs (LA, New Orleans, Hawai’i) relied on their ability to create distinctive geographic and tonal identities. NCIS: Hawai’i works because of the unique island setting and Jane Tennant’s distinctive, family-focused leadership style.
The main NCIS series, by keeping Parker, has opted for a neutral, almost placeholder leader. This neutrality makes it difficult to distinguish the new era. If the flagship show can’t define itself with a compelling lead, any future spinoffs—including the planned prequel series NCIS: Origins—risk feeling like retreads, diluting the franchise’s overall brand strength.
2. The Return of Torres?
The only way to rectify this structural mistake and inject desperately needed dramatic life back into the franchise would be a narrative pivot. The show could use Season 23 to explore the true depths of Torres’s current predicament.
Perhaps Torres, having faced his demons, returns to the team in a final, dramatic arc, proving his worthiness for a leadership role, or maybe even being released early due to his skills being needed for a major case. His eventual return, either to the flagship series or to lead a new project (a hypothetical NCIS: Global or NCIS: Homeland), would be the narrative lifeline the franchise needs.
Ultimately, Alden Parker is a good agent and a decent man, but he is a poor cornerstone for a billion-dollar television franchise. Season 23, with its predictable procedural flow and muted emotional stakes, inadvertently serves as a testament to the bold, dynamic leader the franchise passed over: Nick Torres. If NCIS is to thrive for another two decades, it needs a leader who embodies the kind of dangerous complexity that only Torres could deliver.
