NCIS saw several characters come and go over its 22-season run. However, one of the most prominent characters outside of the regular cast had to be Joe Spano’s Tobias Fornell. The character was introduced in the very first episode of the show, Yankee White.
He appeared as an FBI Special Agent in the episode, who fought with Mark Harmon‘s Gibbs over jurisdiction for the case. Fornell and the FBI began making appearances in every season, but their relationship became warmer as they began to work together on cases.
Interestingly, Fornell and Gibbs go way back and even have a shared history. Fornell’s ex-wife, Diane Sterling, was married to Gibbs. Fornell and Diane shared a daughter together, Emily Fornell. All of these characters began popping up in each season of NCIS.
Fans particularly loved the friendship between Gibbs and Fornell. Their bantering adds to the comic relief in the show. Fornell also comes at the center of several hilarious plots, including getting shot in the a** by Gibbs, starting a relationship again with Diane, and even having to live together with Gibbs.
However, just as Fornell began rebuilding his relationship with Diane, she was killed by Gibbs’ enemy and mercenary Sergei Mishnev in Season 12 of the show. Her death shook him to the core, but he tried to be strong for his daughter.
Fornell couldn’t catch a break since then, as he later had to deal with his daughter’s substance abuse issues. She almost died from a drug overdose, but survived after a particularly hard episode for Fornell’s fans. He went after the drug ring after Emily’s health crisis.
Fans thought that Fornell would have a happy family life with his daughter. He had retired from his FBI life and pursued his private investigator career. However, Gibbs received a call out of the blue in Season 18, informing him of Emily’s drug overdose. This time, she did not survive, shocking fans and even the actress who played Emily.
NCIS made Fornell into a grieving husband and a grieving father, making his personal life even more tragic than that of Gibbs. Fans weren’t happy with how things turned out for Fornell.
It Was Unnecessary for NCIS to Kill Off Tobias Fornell’s Wife and Daughter, and Fans Agree
The decision to kill off characters in a long-running show like NCIS comes out of necessity most of the time. When the show killed Tobias Fornell’s ex-wife Diane in Season 12, it was because actress Melinda McGraw became largely unavailable for the show’s schedule.
She landed bigger roles, including leading roles in Cinemax’s Outcast, ABC’s The Crossing, and CBS’s Interrogation at the time. Moreover, her death served as a reason for Gibbs and Fornell to go on a high-stakes hunt for mercenary Sergei Mishnev. Several Redditors expressed their disappointment at her death.
Redditor u/OkGuitar3773 wrote that they “felt so SO immensely saddened” by Diane’s shocking death. Another Redditor also shared the feeling, writing, “Diane was one of my favorite characters. I’m so sad she died.”
Another fan, @LennyR12, shared that she didn’t have to die. They wrote, “She was funny and brought life to the show every time she was a guest.” They continued, “And then Emily dying. Poor fornell!”
It was Emily Fornell’s death that devastated many fans. Despite her long and difficult path to recovery from addiction, the show killed her off from a drug overdose in the Season 18 episode, Winter Chill. Fans argued that Emily’s story arc needed a more satisfying conclusion.
Juliette Angelo, who played Emily, wasn’t informed about her character’s death off-screen. After the episode aired, Angelo took to Instagram stories to share her shocking reaction. She shared (via Looper):
It was a shock, for all of us. I found out the same time as you, via text. Lots of emotions about this. Just wanted to pop by in the midst of my social media break and say thanks for all the love these past years. Emily has been a part of my life since I was 13. As a newly 22-year-old, it has certainly been a journey. Onward.
Angelo hasn’t taken up another acting role after NCIS. Sadly, her exit comes after she revealed her issues with sobriety. She shared, “I’ve attempted suicide, and I was done. You know, the last night I drank, I was done with my life. I didn’t want to exist” (via KTVQ). She blamed the industry, sharing, “I was never allowed to just fully be a kid.”
Similar to Diane’s death, Redditors weren’t happy with the decision to kill off Emily. One user bashed the series for how it handled Fornell’s daughter’s storyline. u/WXYRUTK5 shared:
Killing off Emily Fornell has to be the most unnecessary “kill off” in NCIS history… I understand that they were setting up Gibbs to “spiral out of control” and lead to his eventual exit, but there were a million ways they could have done it without randomly killing off Fornell’s daughter.
Another Reddit user felt that Emily was their “token for the opiate addiction problem,” adding that her death was just “bad writing.” The deaths of Diane and Emily not only highlight the injustice done to Joe Spano’s character but also reveal a problematic NCIS pattern.
The show uses the deaths of female characters to take forward the storyline of its male lead characters. The first victim happened to be Sasha Alexander’s Kate Todd, and Emily happened to be the latest in that list.
Joe Spano’s Tobias Fornell Deserved More, But He Was Happy With His Recurring Role
Joe Spano’s Tobias Fornell wasn’t just a character meant for comic relief. During his time in the series, Fornell has proved that he could step up whenever necessary and contribute to the action in the show. The latest example was how he went undercover in a major drug ring and took it down with the help of Gibbs.
Some fans even viewed him as a “decent Gibbs replacement”, sharing that he carried all the traits. They shared that he had an emotional attachment to the story, and fans loved him in the series. While NCIS did him dirty by not having any major plans for the character, he wasn’t interested in a bigger role either.
Spano has appeared in 59 episodes of the series, the most appearances by anyone outside the main cast. Most recently, he appeared in the 22nd season of the show. Spano recently shared that he never wanted to become a regular on the show.
He made the revelation during his appearance on Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch, hosted by Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly. He detailed the reason why he thought a regular role on the show could make you “lose track of who you are.” He shared:
I didn’t want to have to do what you guys were doing. Not so much the time, but what it does to you… I could see it. It’s unspeakable, actually, ’cause you’re turned into something, and you have to be that to a certain extent. Promoting the show, reacting to people who see you in a certain way. That’s not really who you are, but you want to cater to it for your job and for them, but doing that over and over again, I think you lose track of who you are. Not that anybody knows who they are at all, but sometimes you have some leeway, right just to finding something new for yourself. But in that, it’s always being pushed on, and pushing back or not pushing back, and being crushed by it.
Before NCIS, Spano was a regular on another detective show. He played Henry Goldblume for seven seasons of Hill Street Blues. It appears that the experience of playing a regular on that series may have made him uncomfortable with playing a regular on NCIS.
NCIS Can Bring Back Tobias Fornell to Work With Alden Parker
Even after the exit of Mark Harmon, Joe Spano continued to appear in the episodes of NCIS. He appeared in Season 19, Episode 17, to help the MCRT team under Alden Parker. In the episode, he helped a grieving dad like him, which added some emotional weight to his storyline.
His latest appearance in NCIS was considered by many as his possible last appearance. In Season 22, Episode 4, which was also the show’s 1000th episode overall, he was consulted when the team revisited an old case of Leonard Riche, who tried to kill the President.
Interestingly, Fornell’s appearance in the episode was more about introducing a potential replacement for him. The episode saw Gary Cole’s Alden Parker put aside his differences with FBI Deputy Director Todd Sweeney. This could mean that Parker and Sweeney could become what Gibbs and Fornell once were.
However, the doors aren’t closed for Fornell yet. With Sweeney’s integration into the plot, Fornell’s appearances should become more than just another helping hand for the MCRT team. Fans hope NCIS can deliver some sort of justice for the character after making him go through a whole lot of tragedy.Another Reddit user felt that Emily was their “token for the opiate addiction problem,” adding that her death was just “bad writing.” The deaths of Diane and Emily not only highlight the injustice done to Joe Spano’s character but also reveal a problematic NCIS pattern.
The show uses the deaths of female characters to take forward the storyline of its male lead characters. The first victim happened to be Sasha Alexander’s Kate Todd, and Emily happened to be the latest in that list.
Joe Spano’s Tobias Fornell Deserved More, But He Was Happy With His Recurring Role
Joe Spano’s Tobias Fornell wasn’t just a character meant for comic relief. During his time in the series, Fornell has proved that he could step up whenever necessary and contribute to the action in the show. The latest example was how he went undercover in a major drug ring and took it down with the help of Gibbs.
Some fans even viewed him as a “decent Gibbs replacement”, sharing that he carried all the traits. They shared that he had an emotional attachment to the story, and fans loved him in the series. While NCIS did him dirty by not having any major plans for the character, he wasn’t interested in a bigger role either.
Spano has appeared in 59 episodes of the series, the most appearances by anyone outside the main cast. Most recently, he appeared in the 22nd season of the show. Spano recently shared that he never wanted to become a regular on the show.
He made the revelation during his appearance on Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch, hosted by Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly. He detailed the reason why he thought a regular role on the show could make you “lose track of who you are.” He shared:
I didn’t want to have to do what you guys were doing. Not so much the time, but what it does to you… I could see it. It’s unspeakable, actually, ’cause you’re turned into something, and you have to be that to a certain extent. Promoting the show, reacting to people who see you in a certain way. That’s not really who you are, but you want to cater to it for your job and for them, but doing that over and over again, I think you lose track of who you are. Not that anybody knows who they are at all, but sometimes you have some leeway, right just to finding something new for yourself. But in that, it’s always being pushed on, and pushing back or not pushing back, and being crushed by it.
Before NCIS, Spano was a regular on another detective show. He played Henry Goldblume for seven seasons of Hill Street Blues. It appears that the experience of playing a regular on that series may have made him uncomfortable with playing a regular on NCIS.
NCIS Can Bring Back Tobias Fornell to Work With Alden Parker
Even after the exit of Mark Harmon, Joe Spano continued to appear in the episodes of NCIS. He appeared in Season 19, Episode 17, to help the MCRT team under Alden Parker. In the episode, he helped a grieving dad like him, which added some emotional weight to his storyline.
His latest appearance in NCIS was considered by many as his possible last appearance. In Season 22, Episode 4, which was also the show’s 1000th episode overall, he was consulted when the team revisited an old case of Leonard Riche, who tried to kill the President.
Interestingly, Fornell’s appearance in the episode was more about introducing a potential replacement for him. The episode saw Gary Cole’s Alden Parker put aside his differences with FBI Deputy Director Todd Sweeney. This could mean that Parker and Sweeney could become what Gibbs and Fornell once were.
However, the doors aren’t closed for Fornell yet. With Sweeney’s integration into the plot, Fornell’s appearances should become more than just another helping hand for the MCRT team. Fans hope NCIS can deliver some sort of justice for the character after making him go through a whole lot of tragedy.
