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As NCIS celebrates its 500th episode, Rocky Carroll marks the end of an era.

In the milestone episode, which aired on Tuesday, March 24, Carroll’s Leon Vance, the director of NCIS, was killed while attempting to protect the agency from being dismantled.

In an exclusive interview with ENTERT, the actor, 62, recalls the moment he learned of his character’s fate after 18 seasons on the hit CBS drama.

“The middle of November, I believe, is when our executive producer, our showrunner Steve Binder, came to me after a day of filming and said, ‘So the 500th episode of NCIS is coming up and we want to do something big. We want to do something that shocks our loyal viewers and just really turns the NCIS universe upside down,’” Carroll says. “And I was like, ‘Oh, wow, that sounds great. Tell me more.’”

He says Binder then laid out the storyline, where “NCIS, as we know it, will no longer exist, because there’s someone working back channels to obliterate the agency,” which is when Vance steps in to uncover the culprit.

Binder then revealed: “In the process of saving the agency, Director Vance loses his life. It’s a great story.”

“I remember sitting there for a minute and having this out-of-body experience,” Carroll says. “Steve, he goes, ‘You want to hear more about the story?’ And I was like, ‘Let me process the whole thing, what you just told me. Let me take a moment, because right now I’m kind of having a bit of an out-of-body experience.’ This wasn’t one of those scenarios where I came to the network or I came to the producers and said, ‘Hey, it’s been a great run, but I think I want to move on.’”

The shock became even greater when Carroll realized he only had two more episodes before shooting his final one.

“The only thing that surprised me more than being told what the storyline was, was how quickly I was able to come to terms with it and be okay with it,” he admits. “I guess the director and the creative in me, my response was, ‘Really, that is actually a great story. It’s a terrific story.’”

The overarching theme that “right will prevail” in Vance’s death is part of what Carroll thinks makes NCIS so successful. “People still like simple justice,” he says. “There are good guys, there are bad guys, and at the end of the hour the bad guys get brought to justice.”

Thinking back to the day of his last scene, Carroll says it was “incredibly emotional on set,” especially because of his experience directing several episodes of the show in addition to starring in it.

“I have a very unique and different relationship with the guys on the crew, because three or four times a season I get to be a part of their world,” he says. “I’m on the other side of the camera. So my relationships with the crew run a lot deeper. All the guys, camera, lighting, sound, I know all these guys on a deeper level, because I also direct. So, yeah, it was very emotional.”

He reveals that his and Binder’s “biggest concern” was making sure that energy translated to viewers at home. When they wrapped, Carroll says they felt it was captured perfectly.

“Steve Binder said, ‘This is going to be a love letter to your character,’” Carroll notes. “‘It’s going to be a tribute to Vance.’ And when we finished it, I said, ‘I think we accomplished that.’”

When he first joined NCIS in 2008 during its fifth season, he says, he never expected his run to last so long, making him even more grateful for his heartfelt sendoff.

“I’ve been a series regular on NCIS for 18 seasons, and if this had happened in my third season as a cast member, I’d be devastated,” Carroll says. “But 18 seasons, to me, that’s the equivalent of living to be 105. I said jokingly to my friends, ‘You go to a memorial service for somebody who lived to be 105, you’re kind of betwixt, in between, because you’re like, ‘Yeah, it’s sad that he’s gone, but geez, he lived to be 105!’”

“Here’s the best part,” he adds. “It was my goodbye. The last day of shooting was December the 11th. That was the last day we shot this episode. But in the back of my mind I knew it was goodbye for now, because a month later I came back and directed an episode of the show. So I’m sort of a visiting relative. It’s not your traditional, ‘He shot his last scene and there he goes off into the sunset, never to be seen again.’ As far as I know, I’ll be back next season to direct episodes. We’ve already talked about bringing Vance back in flashbacks.”

With the extra time Carroll will have on his hands, he says he is planning to enjoy the moment and celebrate his legacy on the show. After that, he does have some ideas for his next move.

“My real dream is to take the Anthony Bourdain route, and travel around the world and film myself eating in exotic places and immersing myself in other cultures,” he reveals. “Having my own show, à la Tony Shalhoub or Eva Longoria. That would be the fun job if I wasn’t acting or directing.”

“But for the last 18 years, it’s kind of like you’ve been in a very long-term relationship,” he jokes. “So I don’t even know how to use the dating site, because I’ve been otherwise engaged for so long. So I’m just going to enjoy the time here.”