'NCIS' 450th Episode Celebrates Mark Harmon's Tenure & Producer Opened Up About Gibbs' Possible Return

NCIS is celebrating a major milestone with their 450th episode tonight!

The cast of the current season of the hit show are paying tribute to Mark Harmon, who starred in the series until season 19.

“It is also a big tribute to Mark Harmon, who led this beautifully for hundreds of episodes and was able to keep this boat with the integrity and the value set that it still performs today,” Wilmer Valderrama shared with ET about the show.

He added, “Then come full circle, all of us coming in and being disruptive enough to continue to reinvent it for the audience. So there’s a recipe of things that have to really go right in order for you to get to 450. And we can’t take credit for the first 300, but I will say that it’s beautiful to stand in the same ground as this team.”

Producer Steven R. Binder also spoke to TV Insider about Mark returning on-screen one day.

“I don’t see how we don’t see him one more time at some point,” he shared, before adding, “Gibbs has, in my mind, advanced to a higher plane of existence for now—I don’t want to place him in an apartment in Anchorage or anywhere. We left him smiling on a river happy, and that’s the image I want people to have until we’re really ready to blow that out of the water or truly embrace it in some way.”

NCIS‘s 450th episode, called “Unusual Suspects”, airs TONIGHT at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.