Why Lauren Holly's Jenny Shepard Left NCIS
Lauren Holly's "NCIS" character, Jenny Shepard, played a considerable role in the CBS procedural juggernaut from season 3 to season 5. From 2005 to 2007, the erstwhile Naval Criminal Investigative Service director loomed over Leroy Jethro Gibbs' (Mark Harmon) Major Case Response Team during some of its most fascinating and dangerous investigations. It's saying something that her debut episode is the two-part season 3 opener "Kill Ari," which finally ends the team's clash with Rudolf Martin's Ari Haswari, who just might be the most devious antagonist in the show's history.
The role of the NCIS director is extremely important for the series, and Shepard's determination, personal issues, and romantic history with Gibbs make for an extremely memorable boss figure. Unfortunately for fans of her character, Holly ended up leaving the show in a fairly definite fashion in "NCIS" season 5, episode 18 — titled "Judgment Day (Part I)" — when the terminally ill Shepard dies in a gunfight against no less than five assailants. It's a dramatic way to go, for sure ... but what prompted this turn of events? Did Holly leave the show voluntarily or was she shocked to find that she had been written off? On her official website, Holly once stated that she departed the show on good terms after growing tired of her role:
"I enjoyed being on the show, and began some wonderful friendships. I was saddened that [original 'NCIS' showrunner] Don Bellisario was forced out, and I missed him a lot. To be honest, now that the work bug had bitten me again, I got bored with my part of the 'Director.' Then the decision was made to kill me, and boy did they. About five different ways!"
Holly and NCIS have both done very well for themselves
Lauren Holly appeared in multiple projects per year throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s, playing major TV roles like Maxine Stewart on "Picket Fences" and Dr. Jeremy Hanlon on "Chicago Hope" while also appearing in movies like "Dragon: A Bruce Lee Story," "Dumb and Dumber," and "Any Given Sunday." However, as she noted on her site, she was focusing on her family at the time the offer to play Director Shepard came along ... and when she accepted, she thought that her "NCIS" tenure would only last six episodes. As such, it doesn't seem all that strange that she was ready to call it quits by the time her character's final scene arrived after 67 episodes instead.
Holly has enjoyed plenty of professional success since then. You might have seen her on shows like ABC's "Motive," Netflix's "Designated Survivor" and "Tiny Pretty Things," and Global's Canadian legal drama "Family Law" — not to mention a cavalcade of fun films like the head-exploding 2017 zombie carnage flick "Dead Shack" and the Netflix-conquering 2024 Christmas movie, "Hot Frosty." As for "NCIS," the show could have potentially scrambled to replace a character as powerful as Shepard. Fortunately, it struck gold with Rocky Carroll's Director Leon Vance, who took over after Shepard and has held the position ever since. As such, this is one of those rare separations where both parties have benefitted from going their own ways. Understandably, Holly confirmed on her website that she has nothing but positive thoughts when it comes to "NCIS:"
"I wish them all success. The show continues to be watched by millions. A lot of people depend on it for their families. For that, I hope it continues forever. It probably will. I think of them all often."