Behind Pauley Perrette’s exit from NCIS is a scandal that, even several years later, has never been fully clarified. Perrette played forensic scientist Abby Sciuto in the crime series. She was one of the regular staff of the long-running hit – until the last Abby episode ran on television in 2018.
Stress behind the scenes of Navy CIS existed long before that. Pauley Perrette accused Mark Harmon of various misdemeanors and later stated that to be afraid of him. The argument also had an impact on the shoot. However, the viewers shouldn’t notice anything. A tremendous effort was made to achieve this.
Summary: What happened on the set of NCIS?
Here we explain Pauley Perrette’s exit from NCIS Ultimate
Pauley Perrette and Mark Harmon shot their scenes separately
What exactly happened on the set of NCIS between Perrette and Harmon is unknown. It is clear that there was at least one serious dispute between the two stars. The broadcaster CBS, which broadcast the series in the USA, tried to keep the peace to the outside world. Most importantly, the series had to go on. Somehow.
As reported by The Wrap, a curious arrangement was struck: Harmon and Perrette should never have to be in the same place, according to an inside source. “She recorded her scenes one day, he another.” This arrangement also applied to scenes in which Abby and Mark Harmon’s character Gibbs appeared together. But how is that possible?
This is how the NCIS illusion supposedly came about
Quite simply: by one skillful cut of each separately filmed material, the respective scene outlines were stitched together, reported The Wrap. Perrette and Harmon’s characters share a close bond on the show. For a number of episodes, however, their actors only pretended to talk to each other. The perfect illusion.
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CBS has never confirmed this practice. The broadcaster only responded to Perrette’s allegations with a statement in 2019: The actress had approached her with a request. The matter was taken seriously and a mutually satisfactory solution worked out together with Perrette.
After Perrette left the series in 2018 and her character was written off the series, that issue was settled for the broadcaster anyway. But Pauley Perrette’s allegations didn’t just disappear into thin air.
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