The NCIS franchise has been a beloved crime drama for years. Fans are always interested in updates. But recently, a major question came up from the NCIS fandom: Why haven't we seen Timothy McGee's kids on screen?
The McGee Twins Mystery
Timothy McGee (played by Sean Murray) and his wife Delilah Fielding (Margo Harshman) have twin boys, Morgan and Johnny. They were mentioned in season 15, episode 9 ("Ready or Not") back in 2017. But, it’s been radio silence on these little ones. Six years later, many viewers have wondered about this seeming lack of follow up!
COVID Protocols and the Impact
The showrunner, Steven D. Binder, recently addressed this! Binder explained in a TVLine interview, that the primary reason for not including the twins was because of the intense COVID-19 restrictions. These precautions made it very difficult, or even completely impossible, for children to be on the show's set.
Binder mentioned a related example, which brings a real point home. Even when Jimmy Palmer's daughter, Victoria appeared on NCIS back in February 2022, her age had to be tweaked to match the show's continuity. That raised this real-life production challenge of integrating younger characters.
Balancing Procedural and Personal
So it might feel a bit weird to fans, but it isn't surprising! Integrating younger characters in a show, particularly in a procedurally driven show like NCIS, isn't easy.
It means, this series makes a priority of those intense investigation storylines. So the focus has been to show these special agent’s working to solve difficult and compelling cases.
Any appearance by McGee’s kids would really depend on how the storylines progress.
The Future of the McGee Twins
Binder clarified why we haven't met the McGee twins on-screen yet.
The show prioritizes its plot-driven aspects! So family storylines are mostly put on the back burner.
Viewers might want these appearances for added character depth, but Binder's cautiousness points to this real possibility: including these NCIS characters only when necessary, meaning they'd need to play a significant role in moving forward with any current storylines. Their presence could have an impact in the episodes.
Whether we'll meet Morgan and Johnny sometime in the future? Who knows? That may just mean we could be left wondering. For now, fans will be left waiting.
