“NCIS” actor Brian Dietzen said, “What’s on the page, okay, I may be happy with it, but it’s what the whole team does together through performances, through the cinematography, through the sound editing that really lifts the script up and elevates it into something that it could never be if it was just 58 pages sitting there on the counter.” He continued, saying of the entire “NCIS” team, “We’re pretty blessed to have those people.”
Dietzen also mentioned how much he loved writing for his castmates in general just because of the level of talent that “NCIS” has on hand in terms of actors. One actor that Dietzen couldn’t wait to write for was Gary Cole. He said he was such a fan of the legendary character actor. He wanted to write something new and outside of Cole’s comfort zone to challenge the “cool” character of Agent Parker, giving fans a glimpse of his dark side. Dietzen said he loved what Cole did with his material and only had praise for the actor.
In the “Old Wounds” episode, Agent Parker saw a symbol that he recognized from his past carved into a drug found along with a victim’s body. It is revealed that while taking a criminal down during a case for the FBI Parker accidentally shot his former partner in the back, leaving him wheelchair-bound. The same criminal is the prime suspect in this new case and it sends Parker spiraling in anger having to face him again. This serves as a bit of an origin story for why Parker left the FBI to become team leader for the NCIS. Fans overall praised the episode.
