5 Years Later, ‘NCIS’ Brings Back Bishop With a Major Twist Ahead of 500th Episode [Exclusive]

When television shows hit a major milestone, they tend to roll out all the stops, bells, whistles, and even nostalgia. If it’s possible, beloved characters that have left even have the chance to make another appearance as part of the celebration. As NCIS approaches 500 episodes, Collider’s Maggie Lovitt had the chance to sit down with the cast for the latest installment of our retrospective series, Collider Rewind. Just a few weeks ahead of the show’s massive milestone accomplishment, Eleanor Bishop (Emily Wickersham) has returned to the fold with a major twist. Bishop joined the team in Season 11 as a series regular until she departed in Season 18 after confessing to leaking classified NSA files. After her exit, Jessica Knight (Katrina Law) joined the team and has been a part of the cast ever since. Now, Bishop has returned as Knight’s next target, after being designated a cyberterrorist.

Now, both Wickersham herself and NCIS showrunner Steven D. Binder are looking ahead at what Bishop’s return means for the Major Crime Response Team. Wickersham tells Collider coming back has been a special experience, saying it’s been “wonderful” to get acquainted with the latest iteration of the NCIS team. She explains:

“There were a few characters and a few new cast members that I didn’t know, and I got to know, and they’re wonderful. But a lot of the crew has stayed the same, and it was like stepping back in time into this family that I really love.”

Wickersham says that Bishop’s return and growth mirror her own life in many ways, saying that coming back “was so serendipitous and perfect the way it unfolded.” Wickersham explains that, “Bishop went off and had to really shift her life. There was this fire that she didn’t want to put out, and I think that was happening for me in different ways.”

The Team of ‘NCIS’ Will Get to Know “Bishop 2.0”

Emily Wickersham and Wilmer Valderrama in NCIS

When a character is gone for an extended period of time, they’re likely to return a little different from the last time we saw them, changed by the experiences that they had apart from the characters we’ve grown accustomed to seeing them with. Additionally, depending on how they left, there are usually major changes for the characters left behind in their absence. Binder tells Lovitt that Bishop is “this totally changed, badass person.” That means a new version of her for the team to get to know, especially her old partner — and love interest — Agent Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama). “So now we have Bishop 2.0,” Binder explains, “which is… It’s interesting.” Binder says of Bishop’s growth:

“She’s gone away and we sort of moved on because we’re not thinking about her at that now. We’re watching the show, and we’re living our lives, and she just comes back into our lives, and she’s completely different.”

Binder says that Bishop’s return was something the minds behind the long-running procedural wanted to get right, saying, “There was a lot of T’s that needed to be crossed, and I’s that needed to be dotted. So we got a chance to do that.”

See how the 500th episode unfolds on Tuesday, March 24. NCIS airs on Tuesdays on CBS and streams on Paramount+. Stay with Collider for the latest updates and more from Collider Rewind.