NCIS is synonymous with Sean Murray’s Timothy McGee. That’s just the way it is. Twenty-three seasons in, the character, who first appeared as a guest star in Season 1, has become, in many ways, the show’s leader—and the one carrying the legacy of many who have come before him. Perhaps then, it is fitting that Season 23, Episode 6 “Page-Turner,” is an episode that gives Murray’s character a chance to shine and that celebrates why we love the show so much.
Fangirlish talked to Murray about “Page-Turner,” what it is about this team that, twenty-three seasons in, still has us interested, and even teased what we could expect for the rest of season 23.
In this very meta-hour, we once explore McGee’s author alter ego, Thom E. Gemcity, as he is kidnapped and drugged, which leads to him imagining his characters—played by Gary Cole, Wilmer Valderrama, and Katrina Law—talking to him. “How much fun is it seeing our cast play these different versions?” Murray shared with a laugh. “I remember when the script came out, we were all in love with the script. I just remember thinking like, oh, I can’t wait to see what Wilmer is going to do for Rick Soares. And you know, the Pimmy Jalmer of it all.”
You’re probably thinking, well, these characters are obviously based on the real people on the show. That’s why we have the actors playing their Deep Six alter ego! But McGee spends the entire episode denying that these characters are based on his team. So, what is the truth? Does he not see it? Or is he lying to himself?
“That’s funny, because I’ve thought very clearly about that,” Murray shared. “I think he’s quite aware of what he’s doing. But I think he’s just kind of turning a blind eye to it, kind of acting a little dumb about it. He won’t admit that the inspiration for all of his characters comes from the people around him. He likes to say: No, this is not the case.”
Considering how easy—and fun—it is for Cole, Valderrama, and Law to step into their Deep Six alter egos, we might have to take McGee’s denial with a grain of salt. And Murray shared that the filming of those scenes was a blast. “What was so great is that every day, Katrina and Gary and Wilmer, and myself are doing our thing, and we kind of know what each other is. So, it was so much fun for us all to come together and be like, “OK, this is like we’re doing a pilot for a new show or something,” because we’re all playing something completely different.”
That didn’t mean it was easy. “It was a challenging episode for us because it’s very different than our usual. And it was a challenging shoot, too, but we just had so much fun. I’m a big fan of like dream sequences and movies and TV. I love that stuff. So, the fact that McGee gets to be a part of some kind of hallucinatory dream sequences and so much of this episode kind of takes place in his head was fun.”
But Murray also got to kick ass a little bit too, something usually reserved for Wilmer Valderrama’s Nick Torres. “Torres is kind of more the tough guy. So, we see that from him a little bit more. But that’s why it’s fun when we have McGee get involved in some of the physical action stuff. And I’ve actually had more of that in the last year than I’ve had in a number of years. And we kind of pushed for a little bit of that this year. And you see in this episode and I actually love doing this stuff. It’s great.”
One of the most interesting things about the episode is the fact that it showcases a different side of a character that, at this point, one might think we can’t learn anything new about. Murray was very adamant about how he’s never felt bored by this character, and part of that is on the writing. “McGee is always… he’s always pushing himself. He’s always trying to do something, trying to make himself better. And I think that’s something that the show is always trying to do,” he shared.
“We could get very comfortable with our stories and just kind of deliver the same thing every week. But we’re trying, in the way that I think McGee has changed over the years, and we have challenged him with new things. I mean, we kind of do a similar thing with our show, which is pretty cool for a show that’s 23 years in for you to be kind of firing on all cylinders still and pushing it forward.”
And Murray is not thinking we’ve had enough of McGee. He certainly hasn’t had enough. “People say to me, ‘Oh, how do you play the same character for 22, 23 years?’ And it’s like, well, I don’t. It’s not like that in my head. It’s been a constant progression. I mean, he’s changed. I look at some of the old episodes and I’m like: Who is that?”
“I’d say that, in the same way McGee has grown, the show is growing, and this year is super cool, too. We’ve got a lot of stuff happening this year, which is pretty fun.”
We, of course, had to ask for details about that. And Murray delivered some teases. “We’ve got our 500th episode coming up. We’re going to do something really, really cool for that and, and, and unexpected for sure.” And, as for McGee, he also shared that if you’re a fan of the character, “we actually have something coming up, which is pretty big. We get some big, unexpected family news from McGee.”
Does that make you worried? It worries me a little. Especially since Murray’s response to my apprehension was a jokey, “It’s usually good to be concerned.” And it’s not just McGee we’re concerned about! “Page-Turner” also ends in the reveal that Parker’s mother didn’t exactly die in a car accident. And that’s going to have repercussions.
”We find out more about Parker, where he comes from, about Lily,” Murray shared. “That’s something that we’re going to be seeing throughout this year. And I think that this year, there’s kind of a bit of a… Parker and McGee have always been very friendly and simpatico and all that stuff. But I think McGee is a little worried about Parker, and we’ll see why.”
That’s McGee for you. Always looking out for everyone. “His people mean everything to him.”
And that’s what makes him such an easy character to root for. Well, that and the fact that he is played by such a talented and down-to-earth guy as Sean Murray.
NCIS Season 23 airs on CBS, with new episodes available to stream on Paramount+.
Cute interview!
Hoping the ‘unexpected’ stuff turns out to be really good. (and also maybe just maybe, we’re closer then ever to either getting a huge update on Hetty, or even an actual return!).